Funnily, before the "aphantasia" was a thing, I always thought that "not seeing things in my mind" and instead having just "vague geometrical images" was my superpower and maybe explained why it looks like I could think faster and more effortlessly than many of my peers during college and phd years. I thought maybe my brain didn't spend cycles on pictures and used them elsewhere. That idea was maybe influenced by vaguely recollecting (perhaps wrongly) an Einstein interview where he mentioned also having only vague geometrical images in his mind. When the term "aphantasia" was coined, I was really surprised that people with aphantasia started writing as if it was a handicap they had, as if they were diminished by lacked something that others have. Nowadays, it still trips me up a little to see it described as a 'condition', though I understand it and feel that it is probably a give and take - it is probably an enabler in some domains and a drag in others.