This deaf reporter covers Brazil’s famous music parades by feeling the vibe

Aulio Nobrega works as a journalist for TV INES, a Brazilian channel aimed at the deaf, where the correspondents report in sign language. This week, he had a big challenge – covering the samba parade in Rio de Janeiro when hundreds of drummers march in to crowds that are cheering and singing.

But he reports on it by feeling the vibe, literally.

The entire drama of singing, firecrackers and drums passes in silence for Nobrega, yet somehow he needs to describe it to his equally deaf viewers. And that’s where the vibrations help.

Nobrega says the music does not have to reach his ears, it pounds through his entire body He says he feels it like a force on his skin and the feeling is very emotional.

Brazil has a long way to go in offering help to the deaf and most TV stations offer subtitles but not sign language. But that only works when people are educated and those who are not are pushed to the margins of society.

TV INES was started five years ago to reach this forgotten segment. Its videos reach around 10,000-13,000 individual views, with the numbers rising steadily.

Watch in Sign Language