#shadow and tails are the two ends of the autism spectrum

[witch-apologist]

Autistic Catra

Its time for the autistic catra post at least two abons have been waiting for and which has been buzzing around in my brain for months now

So let's dive in

First let's address autistic traits and symptoms and how they may or may not apply to Catra

Keep in mind you do not need all of these to be autistic as autistic symptoms are commonly compared to sundae toppings.

Traits and symptoms taken from the official CDC page. I have skipped over age specific traits that we have no way of knowing about Catra and ones that i do not believe apply based on offhand memory.

Number one: Avoids or does not keep eye contact

I rarely see Catra holding eye contact for very long even when she is staring someone down she is usually shifting her gaze See: Salineas gate repair scene, the entire promise episode, "Sorry Shadow Weaver. In fact most of the time when she's talking to someone except in very rare instance when she's putting on a front or trying hard to make a point (aka masking) she's not even directly looking at the person at all.

Shows little interest in peers: do I really need to break this one down? Catra chooses a very select few people she bothers with at any given point in the show Catra is invested in like 5 people MAX.

Has trouble understanding other people’s feelings or talking about own feelings: This is literally Catras entire character if I went into detail about Catra exhibiting this we would be here for DAYS.

Repeats words or phrases over and over: Hey Adora anyone?

Gets upset by minor changes: you mean like seeing your best friend who usually only talks to you talking to another peer?

Has obsessive interests: those are the ONLY interests Catra has

Flaps hands, rocks body, or spins self in circles: now we don't see necessarily these things specifically but these are just a few examples of "stimming" which we see Catra do multiple times. Sometimes she uses her tail or she taps things etc

Has unusual reactions to the way things sound, smell, taste, look, or feel: Lights, physical contact, water, etc

Hyperactive, impulsive, and/or inattentive behavior: look me in the eye and tell me that doesn't fit Catra

Unusual eating and sleeping habits: we don't see much of Catras eating habits but her sleeping habits.... well when she's not sleeping at the end of someone's bed or having horrible nightmares she's hardly sleeping at all. And something about the way she eats on primes ship its very controlled and reads like masking to me.

Unusual mood or emotional reactions: when has a Catra mood or emotional reaction been what is considered usual?

Anxiety, stress, or excessive worry: Literally at almost all times.

Teen and adult specific:

Low participation in education beyond high school: she avoids almost all training and schooling like Force Captain Orientation

Limited opportunity for community or social activities—nearly 40% spend little or no time with friends: yep I mean her friends practically have to force her to socialize with them.

There's also rigid sense of morality and black and white thinking: Catras morals are rooted in personal loyalty and it takes insane amounts of extenuating circumstances to re-evaluate that/accept that its not the same for others and even then she still holds herself personally accountable to that. Black and white thinking is also very Catra. Its all or nothing, one or the other.

not understanding social "rules", such as not talking over people: the only time catra displays significant understanding of social rules is when she went to an event that literally has an extensive description of the rules and how they work.

getting very upset if someone touches or gets too close to you: yep

noticing small details, patterns, smells or sounds that others do not: thats like 90 percent of Catras advantages in life

liking to plan things carefully before doing them: do I really need to go into detail about this one?

Okay so now that we've addressed that Catra has a PLETHORA of autistic traits let's also address some other things that support this analysis

"B-but she's aCAT she's just doing cat stuff" and Scorpia is a Scorpian and Entrapta is a magic hair princess raised by robots and ALSO

funny thing about autism and cats

Yeah cats and autistic people have been compared (and also been beneficial to each other) for a very long time.

Comorbity with BPD:

Autistic people have a higher chance of having bpd and let's look at Catra with BPD:

You only need to have 5 of these traits to be diagnosed:

1: very clearly Catra

2: I mean... need I say it?

3: yepparoonie

4: shes very reckless with difficult terrain and driving

5: again, very clearly catra

6: (and we've already met criteria for diagnosis) Catra has big emotional reactions to everything

7: this is the only one that you could/maybe/ argue doesn't apply to her but the way she shuts down and burns herself in her work after big emotional fallouts does read that way to me also the empty way she parrots "you promise?" In promise just.....

8: this is almost all of Catras reactions to emotional situations.

9: Catras entire life is a cycle of Big Emotional reactions and dissociation. Plus paranoid ideation is pretty constant with her.

There's also Melog: her therapy cat that helps her regulate and express her emotions

So there you have it: Catra is imo undeniably autistic. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk