WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - A Winston-Salem school is bringing awareness to special needs through a new campaign and song.
Carter High School has about 170 special needs students.
The school created the "No Dis Campaign" to show how special needs children are just like everyone else.
Since August, students have been transforming negative words into positive thoughts and actions.
The campaign encourages students to drop the first three letters, d-i-s, in certain words, such as disability, disbelief, and discourage.
In return, students are left with encouraging words that lead to ability, belief, and courage.
"We started a campaign to help us shift our focus from the negative to the positive," said Donna Horton-Berry, School Principal. "We have tried to remove the 'dis' from a lot of negative words. Instead of looking for people who are disconnected, we are looking for and celebrating the ones who are connected. We are paying more attention to ability than disability."
The school also created a song, titled "We Are Connected," for the campaign.
It's about understanding special needs and uniting the people of the world.
"This is our song. We are seeing more respect than disrespect," said Horton-Berry. "It's like looking for a four-leaf clover or seashell, if we train ourselves to focus on that we want to see, we see more and more of it."
A local writer and producer helped the students record the song and make CD's to share with the public.
The students sing the song every morning in hopes of one day appearing on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" to spread special needs awareness to a larger audience and across the nation.
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