UK man who couldn't read or write till 18 becomes youngest-ever black professor at Cambridge University

Jason Arday, 37, after facing several challenges in his early life has become Cambridge University's youngest-ever Black professor. Arday could not speak until the age of 11 and only learned to read and write after turning 18, will soon join the Cambridge Faculty of Education as a Professor of Sociology of Education. Arday says "My work focuses primarily on how we can open doors to more people from disadvantaged backgrounds and truly democratise higher education. Hopefully being in a place like Cambridge will provide me with the leverage to lead that agenda nationally and globally."

Early childhood
Arday was born and raised in Clapham, South London. He was diagnosed with global development delay and an autism spectrum disorder. Therapists and career advisers predicted that he will need constant support throughout his life. However, he proved everyone wrong. In his childhood, he wrote his goals on his mother’s bedroom wall and one of them was, "One day I will work at Oxford or Cambridge."

Education

He began to read and write in his late teens, supported by his mentor, college tutor and close friend, Sandro Sandri. He then studied Physical Education (PE) and Education Studies at the University of Surrey before training as a PE teacher.

Arday went on to acquire two Masters qualifications and a PhD in educational studies. He traces his academic interest in race, education, and society back to his childhood.

In 2015, while still a doctoral student, he co-edited, with Professor Claire Alexander (University of Manchester), the Runnymede Trust’s landmark report, Aiming Higher, which spotlighted racial and ethnic inequality in British universities and its relationship with wider social issues.

His struggles
Other parts of his story, however, epitomise the significant barriers that neurodivergent individuals, those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, and Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic people face when trying to build careers in the sector.

His journey to Cambridge was not easy; he was 'violently rejected' at the beginning of his pursuit of teaching higher education. At present, he is one of 155 black professors out of 23,000 university professors in the UK.

Accomplishments
Arday has earned two master's qualifications, a postgraduate certificate in education to become a PE teacher and a Ph.D. from Liverpool John Moores University.

He has also sole-authored and co-written several books, including works that explore the roots of structural racism in higher education, and the ‘Cool Britannia’ phenomenon of the 1990s from an ethnic minority perspective.

Arday is a trustee of the Runnymede Trust (the UK’s leading race equality think-tank) and the British Sociological Association; a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He has been called on by numerous organisations including the Government of the UK, and the Scottish and Welsh Parliaments, to help develop anti-racism strategies.

He is co-authoring a book with Dr Chantelle Lewis (University of Oxford) about the challenges and discrimination faced by neurodiverse populations and students of color.

Arday went on to publish his first paper in 2018 and secured roles at two universities in England. Despite using sign language to communicate, he became one of the youngest professors in the UK after landing a job at the University of Glasgow's School of Education.