This is so real for Kate as well because,,, she doesn't tell anyone about the fact that she's like kind of a were-cat. I mean, it's not actually a WEREcat, but I did take inspiration from Red's being a werewolf for this to be able to exist in the series without it sticking out like a sore thumb. (I mean, magical things are basically any and all considering there are tiny sentient leaf people, mermaids with legal systems, an immortal monkey, powerful magical entities, a moonstone and sundrop, RAPUNZEL, etcetc so you can really add whatever you'd want without it being weird- I just wanted to not have it be like the thing I added had no ground to hold of it being possible in the actual canon) So Kate isn't like. some giant buff cat or something, she's just a regular cat. She can shift to any percent cat she wants at any time as long as she has enough control, but on full moon nights she turns full cat and can't turn back until there's no moonlight left. If she's emotionally distressed in any way, she'll shift into a cat (like Turning Red if you've seen that) uncontrollably. She's experienced enough with it now to the point where she can control herself from becoming full cat, but that doesn't stop ears and a tail from coming out- which still isn't very good.

The reason the full moon thing and the uncontrollable-shifting things are bad, is obviously because she doesn't want people to know she's a catshifter. It's not really for actual reasons, as the Coronans (idk about Old Coronans, but she lives in the main village surrounding the castle, not Old Corona.) probably wouldn't care (or wouldn't care in the time during the later seasons) about magic considering everything that goes on in the Tangled universe. It's actually because when her mom found out that she had this gift (she wasn't like this her entire life- similar to Red, minus the necklace, she just one day got this ability. She got it probably because she was wishing she had a way to have more freedom lol) she freaked out and told her to never use her powers at all, because they were weird and out of the norm. That people would hate her if they found out. This lead Kate to internalize this information, hiding it from everyone out of fear they would suddenly hate her just because she had this. this doesn't have an ounce of symbolism for neurodivergence, why would you think that Also, her mom doesn't say that out of care for her daughter, she says that because she also thinks it's weird and freakish. This means that not only does Kate have to mask in public, she also has to mask around her brother and mother 💔🥀

The only one who finds out early on is Rapunzel, because Kate knows that Rapunzel wouldn't hate her for being this way given her track record. Rapunzel urges Kate to tell Varian the truth, but obviously she wouldn't do that.