{"id":92695,"date":"2026-08-06T13:31:31","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T13:31:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/meet-jason-arday-cambridge-universitys-youngest-ever-black-professor-who-didnt-speak-until-he-was-11\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T13:31:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T13:31:31","slug":"meet-jason-arday-cambridge-universitys-youngest-ever-black-professor-who-didnt-speak-until-he-was-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/meet-jason-arday-cambridge-universitys-youngest-ever-black-professor-who-didnt-speak-until-he-was-11\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Jason Arday, Cambridge University&#8217;s youngest ever Black professor, who didn&#8217;t speak until he was 11"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p><em>London \u2014<\/em>\u00a0Jason Arday&#8217;s school teachers were clear with him as he grew up. Life was going to be tough.<\/p>\n<p>Arday was diagnosed with autism and a condition called global development delay at the age of just three. It meant he was unable to speak until he was 11, and he couldn&#8217;t read or write until he was 18.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Not many teachers at school had any belief in me,&#8221; he told CBS News on Thursday. &#8220;Educational psychologists and behavioral therapists were\u2026 very robust in their assessment that I would struggle in later life and I would need assisted living<em>.<\/em>&#8220;<\/p>\n<p>Now 37, Arday has just been appointed as the University of Cambridge&#8217;s youngest ever Black professor.<\/p>\n<p>Arday, who will start his work as a professor of sociology of education at the world-renowned university Monday, said the key to his extraordinary rise was perspective.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I never saw any of it as a deficit, mainly because my mother never spoke to me of me being disadvantaged in any way,&#8221; he told CBS News.<\/p>\n<p>Even his &#8220;paralysis of speech,&#8221; he said, &#8220;was a blessing\u2026 It allowed me to observe human interaction.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed__float-wrap\">\n<figure class=\"embed embed--type-image is-image embed--float-none embed--size-medium\" data-ads=\"{\" extrawordcount=\"\">\n<p>      <span class=\"img embed__content \"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets2.cbsnewsstatic.com\/hub\/i\/r\/2023\/03\/02\/dd6c0cf0-b314-434b-92b0-e7beb288cd5c\/thumbnail\/620x349\/0e075c77b534282a97590d0cb5a824e2\/cbsn-fusion-university-of-cambridge-jason-arday-youngest-black-professor-thumbnail-1760973-640x360.jpg#\" alt=\"cbsn-fusion-university-of-cambridge-jason-arday-youngest-black-professor-thumbnail-1760973-640x360.jpg \" height=\"349\" width=\"620\" class=\" lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/assets2.cbsnewsstatic.com\/hub\/i\/r\/2023\/03\/02\/dd6c0cf0-b314-434b-92b0-e7beb288cd5c\/thumbnail\/620x349\/0e075c77b534282a97590d0cb5a824e2\/cbsn-fusion-university-of-cambridge-jason-arday-youngest-black-professor-thumbnail-1760973-640x360.jpg 1x, https:\/\/assets2.cbsnewsstatic.com\/hub\/i\/r\/2023\/03\/02\/dd6c0cf0-b314-434b-92b0-e7beb288cd5c\/thumbnail\/1240x698\/8ac8d1723ea49d0b98e10bcbe0b765da\/cbsn-fusion-university-of-cambridge-jason-arday-youngest-black-professor-thumbnail-1760973-640x360.jpg 2x\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/span><figcaption class=\"embed__caption-container\">\n<p>                  <span class=\"embed__caption\">University of Cambridge&#8217;s youngest-ever Black professor, Jason Arday, is seen in a graduation photo.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>                  <span class=\"embed__credit\"><\/p>\n<p>                Jason Arday<\/p>\n<p>                          <\/span><br \/>\n              <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>When, he did learn to read and write as a young man, he said those &#8220;observations\u2026 came to life.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Arday&#8217;s mother helped him &#8220;engage with the world in different ways, through music, particularly song lyrics\u2026 and the use of sound to make sense of things.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Modern Celtic musician Enya was a childhood favorite, he added.<\/p>\n<p>Arday said his mother had always told him <strong>&#8220;<\/strong>that I was blessed, I was very fortunate and I would go on and do great things. Now, I don&#8217;t think any of us could have guessed we might get to this point. But if I managed to achieve anything in my life, it&#8217;s really because of the amazing people I had around me.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>&#8220;Not as celebratory as people think&#8221;<\/h2>\n<p>Arday was born and raised in south London. He went to college to earn a degree in education and physical education, and then went on to earn two master&#8217;s degrees before qualifying as a teacher. He then earned his PhD at Liverpool John Moores University.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He paid for his studies by working at national grocery and drug store chains.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Arday said his personal journey has shaped his teaching style, which he described as being built on love, solidarity and understanding.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed__float-wrap\">\n<figure class=\"embed embed--type-image is-image embed--float-none embed--size-medium\" data-ads=\"{\" extrawordcount=\"\">\n<p>      <span class=\"img embed__content \"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets3.cbsnewsstatic.com\/hub\/i\/r\/2023\/03\/02\/c8486249-b071-42b1-b08a-a9cb91513b2b\/thumbnail\/620x344\/b33cc492845ac07392cc9a9c326dc746\/jason-arday-cambridge.jpg#\" alt=\"jason-arday-cambridge.jpg \" height=\"344\" width=\"620\" class=\" lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/assets3.cbsnewsstatic.com\/hub\/i\/r\/2023\/03\/02\/c8486249-b071-42b1-b08a-a9cb91513b2b\/thumbnail\/620x344\/b33cc492845ac07392cc9a9c326dc746\/jason-arday-cambridge.jpg 1x, https:\/\/assets2.cbsnewsstatic.com\/hub\/i\/r\/2023\/03\/02\/c8486249-b071-42b1-b08a-a9cb91513b2b\/thumbnail\/1240x688\/7ec2cbeb7bd9fd924c475f87d4b94edf\/jason-arday-cambridge.jpg 2x\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/span><figcaption class=\"embed__caption-container\">\n<p>                  <span class=\"embed__caption\">University of Cambridge Prof. Jason Arday speaks with CBS News from his home in London.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s a whole vocabulary of ways to engage people pedagogically, and there are so many different ways in which people learn\u2026 What is really important,&#8221; he said, &#8220;is instilling belief in people.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Arday will join five other Black professors at Cambridge, but only 160 of the U.K.&#8217;s nearly 23,000 professors are Black in total &#8211; just 1%, according to the latest figures from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hesa.ac.uk\/news\/01-02-2022\/higher-education-staff-statistics-uk-202021-released\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Higher Education Statistics Agency<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Cambridge&#8217;s new professor is determined to see that statistic change. His work at the university will focus on the lack of Black and minority ethnic people in higher education and academia.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Upon sitting or standing on a vista, one of the things that you want to be able to see is\u2026 people that look like yourself,&#8221; said Arday, &#8220;and when you don&#8217;t have that, it&#8217;s actually not as celebratory as people would think.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>That has pushed him to &#8220;return to my original mission, which is really to engage in the redistribution and diversification of global academia &#8211; and in particular U.K. higher education.&#8221;<\/p>\n<section class=\"content__body--footer\">\n<\/section>\n<p>  <!-- data-recirc-source=\"queryly\" --><\/p>\n<aside class=\"component list recirculation component--type-recirculation  \">\n<p><h3 class=\"component__title\">More from CBS News<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"component__item-recirc-block\">\n<p><h3 class=\"component__title\">Go deeper with The Free Press<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<section class=\"content__body--footer\">\n      <!-- tags --><\/p>\n<section class=\"content__tags\">\n<p class=\"content__tags__label\">In:<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/jason-arday-cambridge-university-youngest-black-professor-didnt-speak-age-11-autism\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>London \u2014\u00a0Jason Arday&#8217;s school teachers were clear with him as he grew up. Life was going to be tough. Arday<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":92696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[930,377,8984,912,3935,690],"class_list":["post-92695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-autism","tag-britain","tag-cambridge","tag-education","tag-racism","tag-united-kingdom"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Meet Jason Arday, Cambridge University&#039;s youngest ever Black professor, who didn&#039;t speak until he was 11 - World News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jason Arday couldn&amp;#039;t read or write until he was 18 years old. Now he&amp;#039;s reached the top of the academic world. 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\u2014\u00a0Jason Arday&#8217;s school teachers were clear with him as he grew up. Life was going to be tough. 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