Jason Arday, a 37-year-old sociologist, is about to become the youngest black professor at the University of Cambridge.
Source: University of Cambridge
However, Mr Arday has gone through a long and tiresome journey to get to where he is today.
He was diagnosed with autism and global development delay at an early age. Thus, he could not even read or write until he turned 18.
His disadvantaged background inspired him to improve the representation of ethnic minorities in higher education.
Mr Arday will join as the university’s fifth black professor on 6 Mar.
According to The Straits Times (ST), doctors diagnosed Mr Arday with autism spectrum disorder and global development delay at the age of three.
This resulted in a significant delay for him in the development of his cognitive and physical abilities.
BBC News reports that Mr Arday could not even speak until he was 11 years old. He also could not write or read until he turned 18.
However, his mother actively exposed him to different types of music, which helped him to understand the concept of language.
When he grew up, he managed to study Physical Education (PE) and Education Studies at the University of Surrey. After that, he trained as a PE teacher.
As a young boy, Mr Arday often pondered a lot about the world.
Metro reports that he remembers thinking “Why are some people homeless? Why is there war?” when he was younger. These thoughts inspired him to “want to save the world”.
When he became a PE teacher, he grew to understand the systemic inequalities that children can face in education.
As such, according to the Daily Mail, Mr Arday decided to challenge himself and pursue a postgraduate study when he turned 22.
His college tutor and friend, Sandro Sandri, motivated him, telling him, “I think you can do this – I think we can take on the world and win.”
Soon after, he became a PE lecturer by day and scrambled to draft academic papers and study sociology at night.
According to BBC News, he shared, “Everything I submitted got violently rejected. The peer review process was so cruel, it was almost funny, but I treated it as a learning experience and, perversely, began to enjoy it.”
With his determination, he successfully attained two master’s degrees and a PhD in educational studies.
The Metro reports that at age 27, Mr Arday wrote on his bedroom wall at his parents’ house: “One day I will work at Oxford or Cambridge.”
Source: ILW Education Consultants
The Daily Mail shared that he eventually became a professor of sociology of education at the University of Glasgow’s School of Education at 35 years of age.
This made him one of the United Kingdom’s youngest professors then.
He shared that when he was contacted by the Faculty of Education about being posted to Cambridge, he could not believe it.
“I put the phone down, screamed, and then I just sat in the same place for what felt like hours,” he recalled.
Mr Arday noted that he aims to open more doors to people from disadvantaged backgrounds. In this manner, he hopes to “truly democratise higher education”.
By becoming a professor at Cambridge, he hopes that this will give him “the leverage to lead that agenda nationally and globally”.
Mr Arday will be joining as a professor of sociology at the University of Cambridge from 6 Mar onwards, making him one of five black professors at the institution.
He will also be the youngest black professor at Cambridge.
His story is truly inspiring, and we wish him success in his future endeavours at Cambridge.
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Featured image adapted from BBC News and ILW Education Consultants.
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