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Hello and welcome to How Do You Cope with me, John Robbins. This is the show where I sit down with

special guests to talk about the challenges they have overcome and the coping mechanisms they use

in their everyday lives. Today's guest is sociologist, writer and campaigner, Professor Jason

Ardei. In 2023, Jason became the youngest

black professor in the history of Cambridge University. This achievement was made even more

remarkable by Jason's early years. Jason was diagnosed as autistic at three years old,

and was non-verbal for the majority of his childhood, learning to speak at 11,

and at 18, he finally learnt to read and write. As a teenager, Jason took a B-Tech course at his

local college and went on from there to take a master's in education, and eventually his PhD.

Today, Jason lectures in the sociologyology of Education at Cambridge, alongside

fundraising and writing. In 2010, he ran 30 marathons in 35 days to raise money for shelter

and the shooting star children's hospice. Most recently, Jason presented a show on BBC Radio

4 about loneliness and how it impacted his early years, for better and worse,

...