I have thoroughly enjoyed Tom Kring’s new Fox Television series Touch. The show is about an autistic boy who feels he is here with a high purpose and to fix what’s wrong with the universe. My friend, Lyrica Mia Marquez is a real-life example of the Touch autistic character. While the method of communication used by each autistic may be different, the stories and messages are very similar.
Touch takes on the concept that we are all interconnected. It reveals how everyday people’s actions impact others … even across the world. It shows how one person’s actions can make a difference and really matter in the world.
In the new TV show, Kiefer Sutherland plays Martin Bohm, a man desperately trying to reach his autistic non-verbal son, Jake. The story unfolds much like how Gayle B. Lee tried to reach her daughter, Lyrica Mia Marquez in their book. In AWEtizm, Gayle has a breakthrough when Lyrica is eight and she types her first message on a keyboard using facilitated communication. Lyrica’s first message was, “I am not retarded, I am intelligent.”
In Touch, Jake’s breakthrough comes with numbers. Rather than using a keyboard (like Lyrica) to impart his messages, Jake (played by David Mazouz) uses numbers to connect with his father. We learn that Jake can see invisible threads of energy which somehow connect the world. Jake can even see where some of these energy connections are broken and he sets out to fix these areas, with the help of his father.
It is interesting that Lyrica, now 36, also experiences energy grids, and sacred geometric patterns are explored in both AWEtizm and Touch. Touch takes on the concept that numeric patterns are revealed in nature, like the Fibonacci sequence is mysteriously revealed in tree branching, ferns, pine cones, artichoke flowering, and many other natural phenomena. While we may not normally notice this, the creator/writer of Touch, Tim Kring cleverly reveals how everything is connected by numbers, and how it impacts the world.
Both Gayle and Lyrica also reveal in their book AWEtizm: A Hidden Key to Our Spiritual Magnificence that we are all connected. “There is only Oneness with The Creator and The All That Is.” Lyrica states, “For we are all Divine in our core essence. We all hold a God Spark within… We are all brothers and sisters on a common footpath to reclaim our Divinity.”
One of the many similarities between Kiefer Sutherland’s character and Gayle B. Lee (Lyrica’s mother), is they both realize their child is their teacher, and they are the student. Both understand that they have much to learn from their autistic child and say yes to the challenge of bringing their child’s messages into the world, and revealing their child’s gifts.
Lyrica reveals how we are all connected but rather than sending numeric messages, she has co-authored AWEtizm with her mother, Gayle B. Lee. Within AWEtizm, Lyrica, along with three other nonverbal autistic contributing writers reveal how many autistic people are living with a higher spiritual purpose, and are spiritual savants. Other autistic gifts revealed within AWEtizm are telepathy, soul traveling, healing, experiencing oneness, and gridding earth energy.
While skeptics may view Touch as an attempt to romanticize that autistics could have supernatural powers, having read AWEtizm and personally met Lyrica, there is no doubt in this author’s mind that autistics have special gifts and are a key to our spiritual magnificence.
Touch is quite clever, and I have marveled at the parallels between Jake and Lyrica’s life. I look forward to watching the series unfold and see the direction it will take, and continue to be amazed by Lyrica’s written words.
Photo credits:
Lyrica/Hatcher and Fell
Group/Ami Fountain
