You can intellectualize this all you want with abstract terms like "executive function" and "bipolar visual thinker," but what all that boils down to, if you got approved, is that you couldn't fulfill the requirements of the job.

I believe you tried your best. THE SSA requires evidence that you were making a good faith effort. I believe you that your employer thought you were a good guy and remains your friend, which has nothing to do with anything. Your employer and you found you couldn't meet the demands of the job. You tried and failed. (Otherwise, you'ld still be on the job.) That doesn't imply a loss of dignity.

The SSA is not looking to incentivize people who merely want to be taken care of. That's why merely describing pathology doesn't impress them. You have to relate the pathology of your illness to you not being able to perform your job successfully.

I got approved 3 months after submitting my initial application. Why do you think it took you longer? Why do you think two thirds of people get their initial application denied?

I watched a bunch of video presentations by lawyers to come up with my strategy. (I'll try to find a good example.) The recurring theme that I kept hearing was that saying I have XY disorder won't cut it. Jose Feliciano is blind and made millions. Carrie Fisher was a successful actress, despite being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. John Kennedy was in almost constant pain due to a back injury. What has to be established is that a serious medical condition exists and that it incapacitates you to a degree incompatible with success in the workplace. (Even though the same condition might not incapacitate someone else.) That requires concrete examples of you failing to get the job done, despite a good faith effort and compliance with medical treatment to ameliorate your symptoms.