By Janet Hatherley
This is for you, Jason Arday,
a black man, long dreads, working your way.
Autistic, eleven years before you spoke.
Until that day, you were listening, your way.
Eighteen, you couldn’t read and write,
phonics taught by your partner, fighting your way.
You started uni, reading age of nine,
then a Cambridge professor, making your way.
A beacon for people of colour,
one percent of professors, leading the way.
For autistic people too, how far you came,
a teacher, a mentor, showing the way.
One man brought you down, the media followed,
a racist, eugenicist barring your way.
The injustice, the lies were too much to take.
How will you carry it, they’re blocking your way.
Now you are dead and your loss leaves a tear
through the world. No sun rising, lighting your way.
If I could change the world, I would take a thread and a needle, and I’d interweave love into our society.
Professor Jason Arday, 9th May 1985 – 14th August 2026
