Jason Arday, Cambridge Plagiarist, thread two

[Angeruish]

We are nearing our 1000-post limit on the original thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/education/5561878-jason-arday-cambridge-plagiarist?reply=153910946

I have now removed the question mark after "plagiarist".

I can't believe the sequel will be as good as the original, but you never know...

I agree with everything you say and you misunderstood me.

his story affected my life very personally. What we (society) projected onto his story was hope and change. I cannot tell you how many people in my wider circle sent me his story as proof that my future worries about my non verbal autistic child were unfounded and there was always 'hope' - to the parents at my special needs school raising young black boys this was both hope and change.

This was not just a random person telling their life story though - it came with that huge juggernaut of an institution behind it - the very pinnacle of academia - the full weight of all that tradition and history - and how can you argue with that? And that is how a story and myth get built around a person - the person is irrelevant really - they are the Emperor's New Clothes - an illusion that everyone claims to see because after all this is what 'power' is telling you to be true.

I did misunderstand you and I'm sorry.

I am angry as many are.

Can see how you're one of the many unnamed victims who will likely never be recognised as Jason will never apologise.

I was angry but not sad because it hadn't touched me emotionally in the way it has you.

Your sadness is part of what I thought I was angry about but really feeling it through you is important for me.

And humbling.

I am so, so sorry he and his fake story made you feel like this even if he will never be sorry.

I will nobly decline to lower the tone.

I wish autism wasn’t a part of this story. Because universities have always been a place for a lot of autistic people who are incredibly specialised and eminent in their subjects of interest. That includes teaching and research staff that have made their topic their life’s work and they’ve made huge original contributions in their field. Unlike this guy.

That’s not to say those academics don’t have huge social communication challenges or other difficulties due to their autism. Arday is very personable and I guess we will never know how much his autism is affecting him or if he’s autistic and that’s only right that we won’t know that.

But what does that mean then for how seriously society and especially employers, should take accommodations for autism as a factor in making appointments? As a parent of an autistic child this is such a horrible story to look at.

listening to this BBC radio interview with Arday which hasn’t been taken down: (World Service ‘At 18 I couldn’t read, now I am a Cambridge Professor’.) Jason Arday is saying as a kid he was using sign language because of his hearing impairment- which is language communication!

Another example of ableism that he’s describing his signing childhood and yet is considered to have not been ‘able to talk’ until he first said the word ‘hello’ at 11. Because his sign language doesn’t count for ableists, obviously. Then it’s said Arday is speaking fluently (with speech) by 15 but couldn’t read or write.

He’s saying he practised snooker for ‘seven hours a day for eight years’ . Interviewer is just accepting this. All the time he’s been trying to learn to read and write he was just playing snooker.. ?!

then he says when he’s older, Sandro his teacher kept him behind for seven hours a day to practice reading and writing..? How is a teacher doing that? It’s really confusing to listen to. By this time he is 22. He says he went to university at 20 but with reading age of a 13 year old. He treats reading practice like snooker in 10.000 hours and says he practices every waking hour.

Then half way through the undergrad course at 22 he hears of what a PhD is. He takes this idea to his mentor Sandro and apparently Sandro says ‘wouldn’t it be the craziest story ever told if within ten or 11 years of learning to read and write if you got your PHd. You can take on the world,’ etc.

Then Jason gets his undergrad and two masters and completes his PhD while working FULL TIME in Sainsburys (at night).

I just can’t believe this and I’m just a radio listener. It’s like listening to David Brent.

He's full of shit.

And the Autism and developmental delay claims were a) to make him look like an astonishing (unbelievable) superhuman and b) a convenient way to attempt to explain away his academic inadequacies or behaviours.

The implication being that people who question it are discriminating against him and by implication, all other people with ND.

Which he really couldn't claim was Racism.

He's like Gregg Wallace being caught out being a pervert for years and exposing himself to BBC employees by buying a late ASC diagnosis and saying 'well I just didn't know people were offended by what I was saying because of my ASC' despite being spoken to and warned repeatedly and my ASC meant I had sensory issues so couldn't wear underpants and couldn't help but get my cock out in front of women'.

Which most of society thought was bollocks and said as much.

Whereas it was part of Ardays narrative from the start so once people started to question how shit his publications and TV appearance were, he got to say 'well yeah, ND', the implication being if you questioned it, you were ableist. Or racist. Or both.

Perfect plan.

what he stood for was hope and change

So let him be? Continue to pay him for a role he isn't capable of performing? How many hopeful Cambridge students has he let down and why is it ok that they should be thrown under the bus?

The idea that 'you can be anything you want to be/ do anything in life that you want to do' is a cruel joke and needs to be exposed as such.

It's laughable that you think tokenism should be taken seriously. It has never been a symbol of anything but paternalism and condescension.

Former Cambridge 'plagiarism' professor cancels book tour events promoting his memoir

mol.im/a/16040009
via https://dailym.ai/android

Jason Arday has cancelled a series of events to promote his memoir following accusations of plagiarism and allegations of making false claims about his life.

Just listened to the BBC interview, which says he set up soup kitchens across London for charity.

Yes to that.
Also, wrt Epstein, all the people wondering why only one woman so far has been jailed (a valid question in a wider context, but the emphasis on 'woman' implies she's been scapegoated over her sex, and wasn't involved in it all up to her tonsils).

Yeah. And he'll say it's because of negativity and not that he's been exposed as a liar and fantasist.

That you could be different and be successful in an area that has been historically viewed as only being accessible to a privileged elite.
I get so sick of the 'Oxbridge only open to a privileged elite' (if that was what you meant, and not an academic career).

It wasn't true in the 1980s, and it's even less true now. I know, because I went there from a background very much NOT of the 'privileged elite'.

I sometimes think that Brideshead Revisited has become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Apologies if that wasn't what you were driving at.

The fact remains that Jason Arday has lied, repeatedly, and needs to take a share of the blame for this whole debacle.

Indeed.

She was up to her eyes in it and there was overwhelming evidence to prosecute her as trafficking children to Epstein.

Because she did. .

And Epstein was dead and it was easy to say the truth now he was dead, that he was a collosal pervert and predator without fear of his lawyers disputing that.

As they had done for year's which also protected her

She wasn't prosecuted for grooming or being a pervert and joining in with sex with Epstein and children or women because they are difficult charges to prove.

Same as the male perverts who Epstein 'entertained' are difficult to prosecute legally, despite lot's of people thinking it should be straightforward. It isn't.

She wasn't a scapegoat, or a victim because of misogyny she just had trafficking charges that were easier to prove because she did it for years in easily identifiable ways because till he died, she would likely be protected by his money and influence.

Which her Father had demonstrated to her throughout her life was how things work.

She wasn't actually prosecuted for interpersonal sexual offences despite being involved in them for years.

Giles Coren's headline nails it

There really is nothing to see here - apart from people losing their minds about a man forced to resign for exaggerating - something which happens all the time.

Whats so different about this instance? People are so angry about it?!

Get Jason on The Apprentice i say!

@luckyhazelfox i have corrected myself - 'forced to resign' not fired.

https://www.hr.admin.cam.ac.uk/files/educationprof.pdf
This is the job description for the post of Professor of Sociology in Education at Cambridge University, 2022. I am not certain if it is the right job description, but it looks like it. It's interesting to read.

Its me, Kwikfitt 🙈👋🏾

@rockingaroundtheyou are so wrong here. The man has claimed to overcome non speaking autism. That has a huge effect on families dealing with autistic young people. It suggest with a bit of work these difficulties can be overcome and minimises the real struggles many people experience every day. That’s why this whole thing is deeply upsetting. Please don’t minimise it

Giles Coren hasn’t anything useful to add here. He’s merely trying to write something that no one else is saying. That’s his schtick and they keep paying him for it.

That looks like the one! JA is so unqualified for it that it’s laughable.

The Equality, Diversity and Inclusion paragraph clearly conflicts with the Equal Opportunities paragraph above it… but that’s how we got here I suppose.

I’m an academic. I know of at least two appointments to senior roles of black staff in the wake of BLM that are similarly bonkers, racist and unethical. One was so incompetent she was put on exceptional extended sick leave at full pay for two and half years because they didn’t want to fire her…she subsequently got another prime position on the basis of her role at the first place and is, I hear, still completely unable to do the job but again nobody will call out the elephant in the room because it means admitting they think black people are thick and they have her the role because their honestly think she is the best of what exists. It’s very frustrating for anyone who has to work with these hires and beyond upsetting to have to see the way that students who are paying vast sums are treated when they complain about the sub standard levels of teaching and supervision.

I dont think i am wrong here.

As I understand it, he said he was 'non verbal' as a student. He may have had some words but until you can communicate properly using words, youre classed as non verbal, is my understanding as an autism mum

Has that been disproved?

I have held him in my heart as an inspiration for my own child, which is why i do think that, as an autistic person, he took 'exaggerate on your c'est too literally.

I accept that some people used Black Lives Matter in 2020 to advance their careers. Ive seen créatives talk about 'those opportunities dying out'. As someone who was genuinely hurt by the killings of black Americans, I felt frustrated by this.

But i dont think that all the hires from this time were undeserving

Interesting that they actively did not include a single white face in their brochure, implying that DEI credentials were paramount. They included 3 photos, ONE of them could have been a white woman in a wheelchair… just for racial balance.

He's not an inspiration, he's a fake. There are plenty of genuine idols to inspire your children. He has made a mockery of education, the same as every other cheat.

Why is he a fake? He's lied on his cv yes, most people do.

Were his exam scores falsified? Were his credentials to get the specific job falsified, I am not sure if they were?