The image is in two parts. On the left is the black and white “Make the Right Real in Malaysia” logo of The OKU Rights Matter website. To the right of the logo is a photo: Beatrice Leong, Malaysian woman documentary filmmaker, stands in front of her community at the Autistic Pride Day Get-Together, Taman Tugu, June 2023. Beatrice, with a neat black fringe over her eyes and hair swept up in a top curl, is dressed in a black polo shirt and khaki pants. Beatrice holds a white placard with handwritten text (black font): I AM AUTISTIC (Very large font size) ALSO A WOMAN (the remaining text in large font) A FEMINIST AN ACTIVIST A HUMAN

Remembering Professor Jason Arday: The Heavy Toll of Performative Inclusion

Professor Jason Arday, the youngest Black professor at Cambridge, passed away amid intense scrutiny over his academic work and personal narrative. His story highlighted performative inclusion in institutions that marginalize BIPOC individuals, reinforcing that presence does not equate to true belonging or inclusivity. His legacy resonates in ongoing discussions about race and neurodiversity.
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Remembering Professor Jason Arday: The Heavy Toll of Performative Inclusion

Today, I woke up to the news of Professor Jason Arday’s death.

I’m not sure how many of us in the autism space, particularly outside the UK and especially here, would have followed his story.

Jason Arday was Black and autistic and in 2023, became the youngest Black professor ever appointed at Cambridge. In a system where fewer than 1% of professors in UK universities were Black, his appointment was significant. He became, well…in many ways I suppose, a poster boy for inclusion. His story represented what institutions wanted inclusion to look like.

More recently, he came under intense public scrutiny following allegations around his academic work and personal narrative (he only spoke at 11 and learnt to read and write at 18). There were questions about plagiarism that deserved investigation, fine but his story also became caught up in a much wider debate around race, professional hierarchies, instituitional power and DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion).

We do not yet know the cause of his death and we shouldnt speculate. But the events and intensity of public scrutiny leading up to his final days are difficult to ignore.

I remember discussing intersectionality as part of my Master’s, particularly in relation to neurodiversity and marginalisation. BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) experience double marginalisation, in addition to being autistic. It’s important to know that people do not experience autism separately from race, class, gender or socioeconomic position. These identities intersect, as do the layers of privilege and exclusion around them.

This has also made me think about performative inclusion.

I see this in schools too. Schools call themselves inclusive because they accept autistic or disabled children. Their presence becomes evidence of inclusion, yet little changes around them. The environment, expectations and systems remain largely the same. And when the child struggles, somehow the problem becomes the child.

Presence is not inclusion. Representation is not belonging.

By Dr Zahilah Filzah Zulkifli, Director & Consultant Paediatrician, Space A, Co-Author & Certified Master Trainer of The SPELL Framework, Associate Consultant AT-Autism (UK), 15 August 2026.

Media Coverage

Jason Arday deserved better from academia and the media by Asia Samachar

Tributes paid to Jason Arday after former Cambridge professor’s death by The Guardian

Cambridge professor at centre of plagiarism row resigns by BBC

After This Tragic Death, The Mainstream Media Has Real Questions to Answer by Zeteo UK

How Society Excludes Autistic People by Design (Research-Based Analysis) by Eva Redford





Published by OKU Rights Matter Project