had been brain damaged at birth

[keannu]

Is this "had been brain damaged at birth" a past perfect that had lasted since his brith up to the point of meeting Barry Morrow or pluperfect tense prior to a past tense that didn't affect a past action?
I was once told that native speakers don't differentiate past perfect(like present perfect affecting the present) and pluperfect(like simple past tense not affecting the present) that much, and I wonder if it's really that way.

ex)In 1984, a screenwriter Barry Morrow met Kim Peek and the famous movie Rain Man was made. Just like its main character, Kim Peek had some amazing abilities. He had memorized the content of 12,000 books! However, he had been brain damaged at birth and had trouble with simple tasks such as fastening buttoms or running errands. He was known to have "savant syndrome."

[5jj]

The words 'at birth' clearly locate the damaging of the brain at a past time years before the 1984 meeting. However, we know that the results of brain damage are generally permanent so, regardless of verb tense, the results still had an effect in 1984.