Description: Great and Unfortunate Things is Jason Arday's memoir of overcoming remarkable challenges and responding to adversity with resilience, published days before his untimely death on August 14, 2026.
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.Brief description: Jason Arday was a social commentator, presenter, and public speaker. In 2023, he was appointed 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. He died on August 14, 2026, days after the publication of his memoir, Great and Unfortunate Things.
Review Quotes: "Arday's cinematic story--from being nonverbal to becoming one of the youngest professors ever at Cambridge--makes you believe in the transformative power of grit and the magic of a mother's love. A most inspiring book."--Chris Gardner, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Pursuit of Happyness
"As the mother of a child on the spectrum, I was reminded once again that there is nothing more fierce than a parent's determination to see her child get the services and attention he deserves; nothing more inspiring than a stranger with nothing to gain who asks How can I help? and nothing more empowering than intervention combined with positivity, love, and grit."--Holly Robinson Peete, actress, autism advocate, and author of Same but Different: Teen Life on the Autism Express "Some lives are changed by talent. Others are changed by love that refuses to let go. In Great and Unfortunate Things, Jason Arday tells a story of resilience, dignity, and the extraordinary power of those who hold steady for us when we cannot yet hold steady for ourselves. This is a beautiful and unforgettable book." --Steve Pemberton, USA Today best-selling author of A Chance in the World "I love a good story. As a journalist, my goal in storytelling is to both move and inform. Jason Arday's story is as riveting and moving as they come. His efforts to overcome obstacles presented by his neurodivergence are movingly matched only by his mother's extraordinary efforts to work with his differences, not against them, to see the humanity where others chose to see an inky diagnosis." --Michelle Miller, New York Times bestselling author of Belonging