The past few weeks of this intemperate summer bore witness to a huge media storm around the life and work of Professor Jason Arday. Appointed as professor of sociology of education at Cambridge University in 2023, Arday’s background was different to many academics. Born to working class parents from Ghana, he was believed to have been diagnosed early with autism, non-verbal until 11, and unable to read or write until 18. His career as an academic took off and after his promotion at Cambridge he was lauded as the university’s youngest black professor and achieved high standing through invitations like guest-editing the Today programme on Radio 4.

Media scrutiny started with claims of plagiarism concerning his PhD from John Moores University (denied by Arday). Coverage was then expanded into scepticism about some of the challenges and achievements he claimed in his upcoming memoir Great And Unfortunate Things, due to be published next week.

The story connected with many issues — from racism and suspicion around the rise of diversity, equity and inclusion programmes in UK universities, to doubts regarding fact-checking and honesty in the publishing of memoirs, the way in which “hot topics” are inflamed on social media according to which silo people reside in, and clicks are chased on mainstream media. There were over 200 articles about Arday in the UK media, and innumerable mentions on social media.

Jason Arday, 41 and a father of two, was found dead on August 14. Nine days before he had resigned from his Cambridge post, hoping as he wrote, “This is not the end of my work. It is simply the end of this chapter. I need time to heal. I need time to simply be  myself again.”

Speaking after Arday’s death his friend Sir Simon Baron-Cohen, professor of developmental psychopathology at the University of Cambridge said “He really wasn’t coping. He was being subjected to relentless scrutiny…ridicule, discrediting every detail of his life… He wasn’t coping with the loss of his career, the loss of his reputation. He felt he couldn’t go on.”

Two weeks earlier Baron-Cohen, who is one of the UK’s most eminent academics in the study of autism had written on social media, “I am concerned about the impact of the media coverage on Professor Jason Arday who is autistic. .. We should of course always investigate plagiarism, to protect academic standards. However I cannot stand by and watch when an autistic man is on the ground and the kicking continues. This is relentless bullying of a vulnerable autistic man and it raises safe-guarding issues.”

There is still a great deal of anger and sadness around what has happened, though until there is an investigation by Cambridge University many things remain uncertain. However, at Welldoing we wanted to focus on the issue of Arday’s autism, and speak to some therapists with expertise in this area, to ask their opinion of what had happened, and also seek advice on how his mental health might have been better protected.

Elaine Nicholson MBE, a psychotherapist in private practice, created the organisation Action for Aspergers (now Action for Neurodiversity) in 2008. From the early days of the controversy, she felt the Arday story infiltrating her practice. “Clients were mentioning it and a client from academia said it was impacting colleagues. The ripples were spreading far and wide.”

Why did she feel it had this effect? “A story like this is very close to home for people with autism. It amplifies something they have contemplated themselves. There is a heightened sense of helplessness.”

She felt it personally too. “I had a sense of impending doom. By Friday, when I heard he had died, I wasn’t at all surprised. I could see the writing on the wall. You know so many Jasons if you are working in this field.”

As she explained, the link between autism and  suicidal ideation has been established for more than 10 years. In 2014 the Lancet published research by Dr Sarah Cassidy and Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, from the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University, and the CLASS clinic in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT). It showed that 66% of autistic adults had thought of ending their lives and 35% had reported plans or attempts.

Nicholson explains, “Often an autistic mind is very literal, there is black and white thinking. They are not able to see the nuance. You might think this story will be dust in six months. They may think, this is the end, it’s absolute, categoric.”

I also spoke to Dr Rob Agnew, a psychologist with expertise in autism, ADHD and neuropsychology. He told me that after reading a handful of stories about Jason Arday, “I stopped reading, I could see where it was heading and I am neurodivergent myself.”

What is the best way to be helpful, I asked.

Neurotypical people might show distress by crying and talking about feeling bad, but, he explained, “people with autism may not use their face and gestures in the same way as neurotypical people to communicate internal emotions. Distress can be hard to identify externally if you're looking for the wrong things.

“Some people with autism can be great at seeing lots of details that other miss, and patterns in data or events, but find it difficult to see the big picture. It is most often a processing style not an inability. So to help them I would be thinking are they thinking about very small details here? Can they step back and have an overview?”

Uncertainty can make a person with autism very anxious, so Agnew also suggested that helping  them create a narrative that goes beyond the incident. If there are, say, 15 problems, get them to focus on just one.

As regards the actions or work that had led Arday to these accusations, Agnew offered:

“I work with autistic people a lot and so it struck me that attempts to mislead or lie could have been coping behaviour in this instance. Once a person with autism has solved the problem, it’s sometimes hard for them to adopt a new way. They have quite rigid ways of thinking. What’s going to land badly in the public mind could have been innocent to him.”

For Nicholson, if a client is what she terms “suicide -adjacent” the key is to go into a deep space. “We talk about it so that it’s not a taboo subject. I might ask have you researched it, and if they say they have a plan,  I will explain that I have to contact their GP. It has become a safeguarding issue.”

She might also offer longer, or more frequent sessions, and an email facility. “Because the autistic brain struggles to process, they might need more time. Really what you are doing is holding and containment. I might also offer to speak to someone like their mother, doing a bit of advocacy. You wouldn’t do that in neurotypical counselling, but it can be useful with autism.”

Both Nicholson and Agnew expressed how sad Professor Arday’s death had made them, but at the same time, in the circumstances of this huge amount of uncontrollable attention, it was not at all surprising.

If you or anyone you know has been affected by mental health issues or self-harm, the Samaritans may be able to help. Samaritans is available for anyone struggling to cope and provides a safe place to talk 24 hours a day. Phone: 116 123

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