#autistic shadow

1. Hyper concentration

As a lot of us know, Shadow has a very goal driven nature and will do whatever it takes to achieve his goals. Autistic people can be like this, as sometimes when we set off to achieve something, we won't rest until we achieve that goal. Kinda like how I'm determined to get this entire analysis done and posted before Autism Acceptance Month ends.

2. Poor Social Skills

Socializing and understanding social cues may be easy for some people, but for a lot of people on the spectrum (yes! me as well!), can seem like a challenge, and some prefer not to do it.

Shadow the Hedgehog is no exception to this, as he's usually very quiet and doesn't say much whenever he's around others, and even so, he's mostly seen standing around alone, and distance himself from everyone else as much as possible.

In Twitter Takeover no. 7, Knuckles even states that Shadow hardly ever talks when he doesn't need to. Hearing that is what really motivated me to do this post, because like Shadow, I'm quieter when I'm with people, even my family, and I often don't speak unless if I'm spoken to.

When Shadow does speak, he speaks in a monotone voice and makes it short but tends to say exactly what is on his mind in the most straightforward way possible.

He has his moments of being brutally honest and blunt, which occasionally makes him come out as rude or mean. Something Rouge called him out on Tails Tube episode 9.

Shadow is also pretty bad at following social protocol, as social cues often tend to go over Shadow's head, or he just completely ignores them.

Shown in Sonic X and The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, he's really bad with new people and at first showed a aloof or nasty attitude with the player and Molly for the first few interactions, but was somewhat more cordial towards everyone else, but not by much.

Not to mention that even after he recovered from his amnesia in his own spin-off game, he has his moments where he can be pretty gullible and comically bad at deciphering other people's intentions, as shown in Sonic Rivals 2. For the most part, he doesn't care for social interactions or activities at all and prefers to spend most of his time alone and do his own thing, for the reasons I mentioned in one of my screenshots here. While he did attend Amy's birthday party, he even dressed up and tried to get her a last-minute present. He still had to be bribed into attending to Sonic's birthday party by Rouge and reluctantly agreed.

Given his lone wolf nature, sometimes he prefers to solve any current situation at hand by himself. But does allow others such Sonic and his friends, or Rouge and Omega to help him, even when he doesn't need it. I can relate! Sometimes, I don't like working with others, and I least try to do things myself. Unless if I have or want to, and if they'll let me help.

3. Low Empathy

Like what @shortmobian said in their post, Shadow has a hard time emphasizing or connecting with other people's emotions. This leads to him doing what he thinks is right, without thinking or caring about other people's considerations. Which makes characters like Sonic fear what he'll do when he takes matters into his own hands.

But this does not mean that Shadow is some heartless jerk with no feelings. As Maria said in Sonic x Shadow Generations: Dark Beginnings, he has a big heart and cares about others deep down. He just has trouble expressing his emotions and greatly limits his trust to anyone outside of Team Dark and Sonic and his friends.

Season 3 of Sonic Prime best shows just how loyal of an ally he can be when he does his best to keep Sonic out of Nine's clutches, and later pushes himself to his limits to save a dying Sonic from fading away. Which also shows that despite their often bitter rivalry, he does care for Sonic, even if he'll never admit it. Outiside of saving the world numerous time, he's also shown acts of heroism and kindness to others such as Rouge and Silver in Sonic Heroes and Sonic 06, shown when he saved Rouge at least once in both games, and he was even the reason why Silver realized his mistake and became an ally to Sonic and friends in Sonic 06. He even set aside his own goals to help his allies when they were in trouble a couple of times in Sonic 06 as well.

Aside from occasional anger or annoyance, Shadow also seems to prefer showing emotions whenever he's not around anyone else, specifically sadness, even his own allies, which I can relate to.

But when under a certain amount of stress or other emotion, he's shown to get pretty irritable with everyone else and will sometimes even lash out in anger.

4. Hates being touched

As @shortmobian put it, Shadow often hates when people unexpectedly touch him, and he will either react violently at the one responsible or just freeze entirely. Touch can be a sensory issue for autistics, and occasionally prefer to avoid contact with others unless we initiate it.

5. Avoids Eye Contact

Even when Shadow is having a direct conversation with someone, there will be times when he'll either partly look at people when he or others are talking or completely avoid looking at them altogether. Even when he does make eye contact. Sometimes, it's not long before he looks away from the person he's talking to. Eye contact can occasionally be uncomfortable for people with autism, and it can be hard for us to look at people directly at eye level even for a short time.

6. Stimming

Also stated by @shortmobian (if you see this post. I'm sorry for the constant mentions) Shadow occasionally stims during idle animation, such as playing with his quills, fidgeting with his gloves or inhibitor rings, etc. Stimming comes in many forms, and it helps autistic people feel more comfortable in their environment.

7. Specific routine preferences, sensory issues, and special needs

Shadow revealed quite a lot of his eccentric habits on Sonic Twitter Takeovers, like his obsession with cats and his unique taste in his diet of coffee beans becoming a popular meme. In Sonic Twitter Takeover no. 6, when he was asked by RealShadowFan01 if he would marry them, he unexpectedly agreed, but only if they would follow his very strict set of rules, which they must accommodate to his needs, such as the wrinkled bedsheet thing, which is implied to be a sensory issue for him, and routine. Autistics and other neurodivergent people tend to have sensory issues and prefer to have a daily routine and have specific needs to make us more comfortable and reduce anxiety.

8. He struggled with schoolwork

Don't get me wrong, Shadow is by no means stupid. If anything, he's one of the most intelligent characters in the Sonic Universe. Sure, he's no tech savvy like Tails or Eggman. He's still pretty close. But that's not to say that he did well in school, as seen in some artwork which later made its way into Gerald's Journal that he did go to school along with Maria on the ARK, showing him with an uninterested look compared to the more enthusiastic Maria, who even states that he never turned in a single assignment in school in Shadow Generations. While some autistic people excel in schoolwork, others like me tend to struggle a lot with certain assignments and barely pass each grade.