Can Lua read non-Lua console commands yet

[Goldenhog]

I need to grab the value of powerupdisplay to know whether I should be drawing an icon or not. I recall this type of thing being impossible in 2.1 (Lua could only deal with commands created in Lua), did that change for 2.2?

(and if not, is there at least a way to know if a particular graphic is being drawn or not? Like some method that will return true if the icon for the Pity Shield is currently on the HUD)