Jane is Executive Director of Tymes Trust. A former headteacher and Consultant for the Education of Children with ME, she is author of Zoe's Win, ME - The New Plague, ME Guidelines for Schools and numerous papers and articles. She writes for medical and educational journals and is co-author with Dr EG Dowsett of ME in UK Schools (Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome 1997). She is a member of the UK government Chief Medical Officer's Working Group on CFS/ME.
A head teacher for nine years, Jane is now a writer, Consultant for the Education of Children with ME, and Executive Director of Tymes Trust. She provides Educational Lifeplans for private clients and gives book readings and lectures by invitation. She has written for the Sunday Times, The British Journal of Special Education, GP Magazine, Special Children Magazine and many other publications on topics ranging from health and education to celebrity profiles. She is a member of the Chief Medical Officer's Working Group on CFS/ME (Children's Sub-group).
Jane originally trained as a dance specialist, movement technologist and educationist. Two years of this training took place at the Laban Art of Movement Centre (where she studied under Lisa Ullmann and theatre and television choreographer Geraldine Stephenson). She performed in productions at many venues including Wembley and Llandaff cathedral. A keen squash player, she also enjoyed rock climbing where her special skill was belaying other climbers after falling off herself.
She wrote and produced numerous school plays and musical productions and was a member of an amateur dramatic society for a time, making her debut as a gorilla.
In 1985 she fell ill and was diagnosed with ME (due to a Coxsackie viral infection). She was bedridden and eventually left the teaching profession to concentrate on rebuilding her health.
In 1991 she edited and launched ME Guidelines for Schools (subsequently adopted by the national charity Action for ME) at the request of ME specialist Dr Elizabeth Dowsett (Honorary Consultant Microbiologist for SE Essex NHS Trust). She initiated and coordinated the largest epidemiological study of ME in schools to date, carried out with Dr Dowsett.
In 1995 she was invited onto the National ME Task Force Focus Group on Children. Approached by Action for ME who were planning the launch of their Year of the Child, she suggested and wrote their Children's Charter.
Her first ME book, ME - The New Plague, investigating the links between ME and Polio Myelitis, was published in 1996.
In May 1997 a paper marking the completion of the Dowsett/Colby study begun in 1991, ME in UK Schools, appeared in the Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, making front page headlines in The Guardian newspaper. It also featured as the top news story on GMTV and in the media generally. Jane became a frequent visitor to television and radio studios.
The knock-on effect raised the profile of ME in children. The Chief Medical Officer's Working Group on CFS/ME (set up in 1997/8) included a Children's Sub-Group which Jane was invited to join.
Zoe's Win, the first Special Educational Needs book on ME for children, families and professionals, came out in the year 2000, when Jane also completed her work with Action for ME, joined the Tymes Trust and was invited onto the Advisory Council to PRESENT (National Association for the Education of Sick Children).
Leisure time is difficult to come by as Jane receives lots of email, signs all the birthday and Christmas cards, designs the quarterly mailings, edits the Tymes Magazine and advises families and professionals. However, she likes to read, crash out with a video, get away from it all when possible, and watch Have I Got News For You, not necessarily in that order.
When she gets tired of writing she reminds herself of the Sony ad: "There's always something waiting to exist."
Jane edits Tymes Magazine and has written or edited the majority of the documents in our ME Library (see the Documents Index).
Correspondence regarding the Editorial on the launch of the CMO's report
Jane Colby
Highlighting the new recommendations for the treatment and education of children.
The Lancet May 11 2002
ME - The New Plague
Jane Colby
Covers the links between ME and polio, and educational modifications for
children with ME.
Rights acquired by Dome Vision; available online via www.youngactiononline.com
ISBN 1860832156
Zoe’s Win
Jane Colby
An “easy-read” dramatisation of a young person’s struggle with ME. Advice sections
and full information for families, young people, teachers, doctors, schools.
Recommended by Dr Nigel Hunt and Dr Alan Franklin. Contains a GPs Action Framework
and a Teacher’s Code.
Published by Dome Vision; available online via www.youngactiononline.com
ISBN 0953733009
"Must try harder" is sometimes more relevant to education professionals
than the children in their care
Jane Colby
Describing Tymes Trust's Professionals Referral Facility by which doctors, teachers
and other professionals can be put in touch with ME specialists in their own
fields.
Special Children magazine Oct 2001 pp 34--35
When 'no' means mental illness
Jane Colby
On the confusion between the psychiatric diagnosis Pervasive Refusal Syndrome
and ME.
What Doctors Don't Tell You magazine Oct 2001 vol 12 no 7 p 12
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome / ME
Jane Colby
Impact of the Chief Medical Officer's Working Group Report on the education
of pupils with CFS/ME.
Special Children magazine Feb 2002 p 9
Ten Points on the education of children with ME
Jane Colby
Aimed in particular at teachers of children with Special Educational Needs,
this is a detailed article on the principles of energy-efficiency in education.
Special Children magazine Nov/Dec 2000 pp 25--27
GPs are pivotal to recovery of chronic fatigue patients
Dr Nigel Hunt, Jane Colby
This is the perfect article to give your GP. Photocopies available from Tymes
Trust (please send SAE).
GP Magazine May 12 2000 p 67
Physios urged to go cautiously
Jane Colby
On the physical fragility of children with ME including practical guidance for
physiotherapists.
Physiotherapy Frontline December 2001
10 Points on organising ME care for children
Dr Nigel Hunt, Jane Colby
Information for GPs tabulated into ten key issues and their solutions.
GP Magazine July 9 1999 p 70
Focusing on Children
Jane Colby
How schools can respond to individual needs using ME-friendly principles.
The CFIDS Chronicle January/February 1998 pp 36-37
Learning is hard when you're too weak to eat
Jane Colby
The argument for special provision for children with ME.
The Independent [Education +] 22nd May 1997
Long Term Sickness Absence due to ME/CFS in UK schools; An epidemiological
study with medical and educational implications
Dowsett EG, Colby J
The largest epidemiological study of ME available to date, studying a sample
of 333,000 schoolchildren and 27,000 staff over a 5 year period. Much new evidence
for the seriousness of the problem in schools and further evidence for the theory
that ME is of infective origin.
Key findings: 51% of pupils on long-term sick leave from school had
ME (greater than any other condition); ME appears in clusters in school staff
and pupils.
Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome May 1997 vol 3 (2) (see also errata in
following edition)
Polio 'link' may alter teaching of ME children
Jane Colby
Short article drawing together some of the issues discussed in the book
ME - The New Plague
The Sunday Times (Education Pages) 30th June 1996
Taking ME Seriously
Jane Colby
Children with ME and its implications for their education.
Special Children magazine May 1996 vol 93 pp 18--20
The School Child With ME
Jane Colby
First article on ME and its educational management in this specialist publication.
Still excellent to present as evidence for the necessity of special provision.
British Journal of Special Education March 1994 vol 21 no 1 pp 9--11
Students and ME
Jane Colby
Guidance on the particular problems of students with advice from a successful
UK graduate.
Newscheck (UK Magazine for Careers Advisors) November 1994 vol 5 no 2 pp 7--8
NOTE Some of the articles referenced here contain a statement to the effect that the average duration of ME is four and a half years. This is often repeated by the press and UK associations and was taken from the first edition of Guidelines for Schools. Jane and Dr Betty Dowsett (Honorary Consultant Microbiologist for South East Essex NHS Trust) now advise that we should regard the condition as open-ended; "recovery" should be regarded as remission (relapse could be provoked) and the initial illness duration is extremely variable.