Autism & TV

I originally posted this blot article on this website - http://www.nuzcom.com/autism-tv. While writing it, I felt it would be perfect for this website. I hope you enjoy this piece! Until next time.

Anyways, tonight, I watched the pre-pilot of a new show called 'Touch'. It stars Kiefer Sutherland and is about a widower who's trying to raise his son, who is ‘special’. This boy is supposed to be autistic, I think. He doesn't talk, he rocks, he doesn't like touch, and he's obsessed with numbers.  

It turns out that all the numbers he writes down are important. They are clues to when and where things would happen all across the world. The kid’s dad was told by this mysterious man (played by Danny Glover) that the child is one of these people who sees the numerical connections of the world. This boy sees their influence on the past, present, and future. Oh, and the kid loves phones, which plays a critical role in the events.

The plot is too rich and detailed to describe, but I will touch on some of the highlights. In the show, all of the things happen at 3:18 on March 18. A guy wins the lotto and misses his bus because he fights the autistic boy's dad. This, in turn, allows the lotto winner to save a busload of kids after it crashes. This bus was numbered 318. Earlier the lotto winner, the dad, the bus, and the kid had been at the gas station. The kid stole the lotto card to write them down and then went to the bus. He wrote those numbers down too. In Kuwait, a boy is strapped by a cell phone powered bomb. No other choice because his parents have no way to make money and his life seems hopeless. However, a Dublin woman calls and saves him. She also gets him a stove because the actual owner of the phone attached to the bomb owns a kitchen supply company. Prior to being in the the Middle East it was in Japan, where some girls see the video of a singer on the phone and fall in love with her. So much so, they start a fan club. Before Japan, it was in Ireland, filming the girl perform.

Confused yet? I am a little. A lot happened, as you see. A lot more, that I did not mention, happened. It's a brilliant and interesting show. It makes me think about Autism, too. 

A lot of the people looked at the boy as if he was weird  and put into a group home. He didn't seem to care or notice. The boy often seemed cold and distant. He just wrote his numbers and played with old cell phones. I wonder, do people view me in that light. I work hard so they don't, but does it even matter? Do people still think of me as disabled? I wouldn't ask because I don't want to know. 

Top of Form

Bottom of Form