Spasticus Autistcus was written by Ian Dury in 1981. Ian Dury contracted Polio at age seven and as a result his left arm and leg were permanently weakened. This song was written in protest of the “International Year of Disabled Persons”, something championed by disability charities and something Dury found personally insulting and demeaning. According to his daughter Jemima Ian would frequently make a point that has been echoed by disabled people around the world “Why do we have charities? Why isn’t this normal? Just give me what I need to get around and live my life.”
Spasticus Autisticus was a battle cry against this kind of institutionalised paternalism that condescends to and infantalises the disabled. The line “you can read my body but you'll never read my books” speaks profoundly to the experiences of many disabled folk. People see or learn about our disability and immediately judge that we cannot take care of ourselves, that we cannot know what is best for ourselves. And they have no interest when we try to tell them otherwise. They have no interest in the richness of our internal lives, the value of our perspectives and lived experience. They will read our bodies and pour out saccharine pity, thinly veilled disgust or outright contempt with very little meaningful difference between the three all the while refusing to engage with us as equals, as real human beings.
The full meaning of this lyric, the sheer contempt of the abled world for the disabled experience, was only underlined when the song was effectively banned by the BBC and other radio stations who deemed it's title and lyrics that directly related the disabled experience such as “I widdle when I piddle 'cos my middle is a riddle” were deemed too offensive. Because of course, the real victims of disability are the abled people made uncomfortable by the reality of our existence. The fact that the medical term Spastic, once used for Cerebral Paulsy, became derrogatory as a direct result of the fact that abled people have such contempt for us they will weaponise medical terminology into insults is, of course, our own fault and a reason to silence us.
This song is fully and entirely about the disabled experience. But that one line “you can read my body, but you'll never read my books” resonates across marginalised communities. You can read my body, the ability of my body, the shape of my body, the size of my body, the desires of my body, the colour of my body and consider that knowledge enough to make your judgements and reach your concolusions. But you will never read my books, never care enough to truly know me.