Jason Arday, a 37-year-old sociologist who couldn’t speak until the age of 11, has become Cambridge University’s youngest-ever Black professor.
Jason, who couldn’t read or write until he was 18, was reportedly written off by specialists when he was just three years old after being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and a global developmental delay.
His Ghanaian mother, Gifty, a mental health nurse, his close friends, Sandro Sandri and Chantelle Lewis, and Enya’s song helped him overcome his speech defect.
The Cambridge Professor reflected on his journey, saying;
“A lot of the cues I learned in terms of speaking and understanding came through music.
“There was a lot of music played in my house to explain the use of sounds. My mum’s obsessed with Gaelic and Celtic culture. So there would often be Enya playing in the house. She would say: ‘This is what a river sounds like’. Or: ‘If I were to speak to explain what a river sounds like, these are the words I might use.’
“Now, she’s probably thinking: ‘I’ve tried everything, and none of this is working.
“But what she would have no idea of is that all of those things, those thousands of hours she spent with me, sacrificing and forsaking her own career, were all worth it.
“It was all registering. And I guess that that moment of triumph comes at 11 and I pull my hearing aid out and the first word I actually said was: ‘Hello’. And I used it in the right context! My mum was like: ‘What did you say??’ And I said it again.”
Jason, one of four children, had been communicating solely through sign language and had spent the majority of his childhood working with a speech and language therapist.
He said; “When my mum received the diagnosis, she told me, it was almost like a hammer to her heart. At the time she was trying to figure out how to be in Britain as a Ghanaian.
“Global developmental delay is a processing delay. So my brain processes information very slowly. But then the autistic side is like a magic trick.
“It allows me to obsess on something. So my mum gave me things to fixate on. She got me to play snooker when I was 11.
“Just to get the stability from repetition. She didn’t care whether I was any good or not, even though I did end up on the junior tour! I wasn’t good enough to go any further.”
Speaking on his relationship with his college tutor and close pal, Sandri, he said;
“He took me on a course even though I didn’t have any qualifications. All he wanted me to do was work hard, make sacrifices and be punctual.
“I would imagine for my mum it was really difficult. But for me, it was beautiful.
“I spent a lot of my time observing people, the way they walked, the way they talked, the cues they had, how they engaged with people.
“I read something about Nelson Mandela. He said that he remembered three to five things about every person he met. That’s something I try and do even now.”
Jason went on to complete GCSEs in PE and textiles, a BTEC, a first-class degree in PE and education studies, and two master’s degrees.
He also earned a PhD from Liverpool John Moores University, all while working part-time at Sainsbury’s and Boots.
Despite all odds, Jason went on to become a professor of sociology and education after working at Durham and Glasgow universities.
