Raised By Deaf Parents, East Brunswick Teen Wins Scholarship

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ — In some ways Isabella Mashanksi, 17, is the typical East Brunswick teenage girl. She loves Instagram and watching movies, taking naps with her puppy, and hanging out with her friends.

But Bella, as she's called, is the fully-hearing child of a deaf mother and father. What's it like to grow up as a CODA, or child of deaf adults, as it's called in the deaf community? Bella's story is so inspiring she recently received a $25,000 Live Mas college scholarship from the Taco Bell Foundation thanks to a movie she made about her experience.

"My parents have both been deaf for almost their entire lives," explains Bella, a senior at East Brunswick High School. "My dad, Tony Mashanski, lost his hearing when he was two years old because he got a fever. And my mother, Maritza, was born deaf because we think her mother had German measles while she was pregnant with her."

While Maritza lived in the Bronx, and Tony was a lifelong East Brunswick resident, the couple met through mutual friends in the New York/New Jersey deaf network, which Bella describes as "like a big family." They fell in love, married and Bella was born. A second child, her younger brother Matthew, followed four years later. Both children can hear normally.

"Growing up was really different for me. You can hear, but you are in the deaf community. It's like having two different identities. My first language was American Sign Language, and speaking came later," said Bella. "When I was really little, I actually wanted to be deaf like my parents. I would get so angry when my mom would tell me, 'No, you can hear.' I just wanted to be like them."

"I was actually a delayed speaker as a child and had to have speech therapy up until 9th grade," she recalled.

Bella said she noticed she had to grow up and mature much faster than other kids her age.

"Doctor's appointments, things like that, I had to translate for them at a very age," she explained. "When I was in the hospital once I had to sign all these medical forms that a parent would usually sign because there was no interpreter there for my mom. I remember thinking, 'Man, can't I just be a sick kid for once?'"

Her younger brother, now 13, depended on her for a lot of things. And friends and strangers alike sometimes asked unintentionally hurtful questions.

"People would ask me, 'Can your parents write?' 'Can they take care of themselves?,'" she said. "Yes, being deaf is a disadvantage, but my parents can do so much despite the fact that they can't hear. I want people to know that. Not a lot of people are educated about what it's like to be deaf."

But Bella said it was particularly difficult to watch her parents struggle to find work.

"My dad worked as an accountant at Prudential for 19 years, but then he got laid off," she said. "Once that happened, it was really difficult for him to find a job again. A lot of people are reluctant to hire someone who is deaf because they don't understand the skills they have. A lot of deaf people have potential, but they feel discouraged. Like, my mom never went to college because I think her family never pushed her to because of her deafness."

Bella has always loved movies and film-making; in her free time, she produces and edits her own films with her friends. Her dream is to one day write and produce movies and TV shows that feature actors who are deaf or blind.

"I want to see more movies with deaf people, or just see someone who has a disability be a lead role in a film," she said. "There are people like Nyle who was on Dancing With the Stars. (Nyle DiMarco, the first deaf winner of America's Next Top Model.) He is amazing and people don't realize how much of a role model he is for deaf people."

She also pointed to shows like "Glee," which was acclaimed for story lines featuring teens with Down Syndrome or who use wheelchairs.

"They are good, but we need more of that stuff out there. I want to see disabled actors playing the leads in Hollywood films," Bella said. "I want to give them that platform."

Bella is a self-proclaimed Taco Bell fanatic — "I eat there all the time, it's really affordable! I follow them on Instagram and my boyfriend even took me there for our first date," she laughs. It was walking into the Rt. 18 Taco Bell this winter that she first noticed an ad for their Live Mas college scholarship.

"I figured I was a long shot, but why not just apply?," she said. "They offered $5,000 and $10,000 scholarships, but I figured whatever, let me dream big and go for the $25,000 scholarship. My grades weren't too good in my freshman and sophomore years, so I focused on my film-making in my application."

The Taco Bell Live Mas scholarships are unique because they specifically don't look for teens who have stellar grades or academic achievements. Instead, Taco Bell sought teen who want to pursue unique passions that may not necessarily fit into the traditional “academic” or “athletic” categories.

Bella produced and submitted the video below back in January, and promptly forgot about it. When she got a UPS notification in May that a package came from Taco Bell, she actually thought, 'Oh no, did I order something online again from Taco Bell?"

She FaceTimed her mom — the advent of video talk on cell phones has made it much easier for deaf people to communicate — and they opened the package together. They were stunned to find out she'd won the highest amount possible.

Bella was chosen out of more than 8,000 students who applied. Of the 300 winners, she was one of only 16 who received the $25,000 award. She will use the scholarship to study film arts at Studio School Los Angeles.

Bella recently started DHB, Deaf Hearing and Blind acting studio, and she hopes to continue her film-making dreams in L.A. She's already traveled out to L.A. to find a living arrangement for when classes start next fall.

"We're all nervous. I'm nervous to leave my parents and they're nervous to have me go," she said. "But this is my dream. Yes, it would be great for my parents to hear, but they and I wouldn't change one thing about how we all live. It's made us who we are."

Photos supplied to Patch by Bella Mashanski.