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Great and Unfortunate Things by Jason Arday

$29.00

Great and Unfortunate Things is Jason Arday’s memoir of overcoming remarkable challenges and responding to adversity with resilience.

Jason Arday grew up in a lively corner of South London as the second youngest of three boys. He was diagnosed with autism and developmental delays at age three, and experts told his parents he would never speak, write, or live independently—and should be institutionalized.

His parents refused. Instead, his extraordinary mother, Giff, drawing on her faith and thinking outside the box, embraced his neurodivergence and devoted herself to helping him realize a potential few others believed possible—using everything from the proverbs of her West African culture to music, sports, and film to help him make sense of the world.

In Great and Unfortunate Things, we see how Arday went from being nonverbal as a child and illiterate until he was eighteen to scaling unimag-inable heights as an adult. Without romanticizing the struggle, this is a story of determination against seemingly insurmountable odds—and of a family and a small group of believers whose compassion helped him see what is possible.

A powerful story for our moment, Arday’s journey is a testament to resilience, dignity, and the life-changing force of community in action.

Great and Unfortunate Things is Jason Arday’s memoir of overcoming remarkable challenges and responding to adversity with resilience.

Jason Arday grew up in a lively corner of South London as the second youngest of three boys. He was diagnosed with autism and developmental delays at age three, and experts told his parents he would never speak, write, or live independently—and should be institutionalized.

His parents refused. Instead, his extraordinary mother, Giff, drawing on her faith and thinking outside the box, embraced his neurodivergence and devoted herself to helping him realize a potential few others believed possible—using everything from the proverbs of her West African culture to music, sports, and film to help him make sense of the world.

In Great and Unfortunate Things, we see how Arday went from being nonverbal as a child and illiterate until he was eighteen to scaling unimag-inable heights as an adult. Without romanticizing the struggle, this is a story of determination against seemingly insurmountable odds—and of a family and a small group of believers whose compassion helped him see what is possible.

A powerful story for our moment, Arday’s journey is a testament to resilience, dignity, and the life-changing force of community in action.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Professor Jason Arday is a social commentator, presenter, and public speaker. He served as the Professorial Chair of Education (Sociology of Education) at the University of Cambridge, making him the youngest-ever Black academic to hold a Professorship at Cambridge and one of the youngest academics ever appointed to a Professorial Chair in Oxbridge's nine-hundred-year history.

Arday faced many personal challenges, notably being diagnosed with a form of Autism Spectrum Disorder which meant he was unable to speak until he was 11, or to read or write until he was 18. He was born and raised in Clapham, South London. Therapists and career advisers predicted he would spend his adult life in assisted living and require lifelong support. Instead, through personal determination and the support of family and close friends, he went to college, trained as a teacher, and then launched his academic career.

At 27, while studying for his PhD, he wrote a set of personal goals on a bedroom wall at his parents’ home. One of these read: “One day I will work at Oxford or Cambridge”. On August 14, 2026, he was found unresponsive and later passed away, following a campaign of misinformation that viciously targeted him and called his professional integrity into question.