L to R: Shane Simpson, Deb Woodland and Angela Leeson, Lynne-Mari De Frane, Amber Rainshadow with a communication board.
On Sept. 8, 2026, Lynne-Mari De Frane accepted a 2026 Widening Our World (WOW) Award for her work with CLBC’s South Island Community Council (SICC) to develop, distribute and expand communication boards across BC in support of people who use alternative methods for communication. It’s a project dubbed “Communication for Everyone.”
CLBC board members Shane Simpson and Amber Rainshadow presented Lynne-Mari with the award. In her remarks, Amber said, “It is an honour to be here to acknowledge this work. I used communication symbols until I was 10 years old and have friends that still use them. The Communication for Everyone project is so important.”
Shane said, “Communication access is an important part of accessibility. I am impressed by Lynne-Mari, the SICC and School District 62’s work, how it recognizes there are many ways to communicate, and their acknowledgement that to help make the world more accessible, we have to make communication options available for people to use.”
Just as braille, captions, and physical accessibility features help reduce barriers, communication boards, a form of Augmentative and Alternative communication (ACC), can support people who are non-speaking or who rely on picture symbols to communicate. Lynne-Mari, a member of the SICC, is a former School District 62 employee, who worked with colleagues Deb Woodland and Angela Leeson to develop communication boards for students who are non-speaking and/or rely on picture symbols to communicate. As a parent whose son uses visuals to communicate, as he prepared to move into adulthood, she saw there could be a need for ACC in more community spaces.
Example using symbols from the board.
“Making communication accessible has always been a passion of mine. At home, I saw how visuals helped my son to communicate, and I understood others could be helped too. I am so grateful to the SICC, and to Deb and Angela and School District 62, who allowed us to rework their communication boards for schools, so they can be used in adulthood and throughout community,” said Lynne-Mari.
AAC is often used by people who have speech, language and communication disabilities that are primarily not caused by hearing loss. The communication boards developed by Lynne-Mari, the SICC and School District 62 have been distributed to close to 30 CLBC offices across BC and are being used by 22 other organizations to support accessible communication. As part of her work with the SICC, Lynne-Mari also continues to work with the School District to expand the boards to other community spaces, such as public libraries. You can also learn more about the board, or to print a copy of the communication board developed for CLBC, here.
“In addition to being creative and kind, Lynne-Mari is quietly persistent in her efforts to create meaningful change. Her work on the Communication for Everyone initiative has had such a broad impact, improving accessibility in every CLBC office and for many of the people served by CLBC,” says Catriona Johnson, SICC chair.
The WOW Awards were established by CLBC in 2009 to recognize the people and places that go above and beyond to promote inclusion and full citizenship for the adults CLBC serves. Lynne-Mari was chosen as one of five 2026 WOW award recipients by a selection committee of self advocates, community members and CLBC staff who reviewed nominations from across the province.
Learn more about CLBC’s WOW Awards here.