Carolann Jackson obituary

My friend Carolann Jackson, who has died aged 80, was a campaigner and advocate on behalf of people with Asperger syndrome.

For the first part of her adult life she worked in the music business, managing bands. But her focus changed after the birth of her daughter, Nita. Early on, Carolann noticed that her daughter appeared to behave differently to other children of her age.

It took years of Carolann’s persistence to identify the cause. She was frequently rebuffed by members of the medical profession; one consultant accused her of having Munchausen’s syndrome by proxy (now known as fabricated or induced illness). It was not until Nita was 14 that she had a correct diagnosis, from the Maudsley hospital in south London, of Asperger syndrome, now included under the broader term autism spectrum disorder.

On finding that Essex, where she lived, offered none of the Maudsley’s recommendations for support for people with Asperger’s, Carolann set up Safe - Supporting Asperger Families in Essex in 1997. Safe became a registered charity in 2002 and Carolann its first chair. She was later made president.

Actively involved with Safe for more than 20 years, Carolann volunteered her time and energy to raise awareness, share information, support families and individuals, and lobby local, county and national government to push for better services for people with Asperger’s. Many parents attest that without the support provided through Safe over the years, their child would have been in danger of taking their own lives.

Carolann’s efforts were recognised in 2006 with one of the first Scarman Trust awards, for her contribution to building bridges within and across communities. She later won the Pride of Essex “unsung hero” award in 2017.

The eldest in a family of four children, whose father was in the army, she was born Carolann Nicholls in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, growing up there and attending the local primary school, where she and I met aged eight – it was a friendship that was to span more than 70 years (we later worked together at Safe, where I became chair in 2019). She was head girl in her final year at primary school and moved on to the local grammar, Westcliff high school for girls, where she was unhappy to be relegated to the secretarial stream.

An outstanding singer in her mid-teens, she was popular in the many jazz clubs in Southend. At the age of 19, she responded to an advert in the Melody Maker and joined the staff of the pop music television show Ready Steady Go!, at the height of the swinging 60s. Many expected her to become a TV presenter, but she stayed in production and, later on, successfully managed several bands. She married Andrew Jackson in 1980.

She remained actively involved in Safe’s activities until becoming ill a few years ago. Andrew died in 2022. She is survived by Nita, and a brother, Roger.