Since music is such an integral part of Carnival, one may think deaf people cannot appreciate the festival, but that is a very wrong assumption.

Dr Kristin Snoddon, a deaf scholar, associate professor and graduate programme director with the School of Early Childhood Studies at Toronto Metropolitan University, said she had always been fascinated by music and looked for ways to experience and understand it more.

“Because of coming to Trinidad Carnival, I started to think more deeply about the way we (the deaf) experience and orient ourselves to the world. Carnival made me feel like the experiences and knowledge I have of music are valid.”