Nail salon refuses to serve disabled teen saying it 'doesn't do people like her'
A girl suffering with a rare medical condition was turned away from a salon by staff who said they don't do nails for "people like her", according to her fuming parents.
Shiloh Maberly-Stenner, who is just 14 years old, was on a trip with her grandma and care worker to Rainbow Nails In Robina, on Australia's Gold Coast, hoping to have some pampering before Christmas.
Shiloh was tragically born with open-lip bilateral schizencephaly, a staggeringly rare disability which left slices in her brain's cerebral hemisphere.
The defect essentially left the youngster, who is confined to a wheelchair, missing part of her brain.
Her enraged mother Jade told the Gold Coast Bulletin how her beloved daughter was told: "No we can't, we don't do nails for people like her".
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The youngster was hoping to have her nails done before Christmas (Jade Maberly-Stenner)
Shiloh was born with an extremely rare disability (Jade Maberly-Stenner)The shop claimed someone with a disability complained in the past, so "now we just have a company policy that we don't do people with disabilities".
Like most of the world, Australia has made it unlawful for people with disabilities to be discriminated against across most areas of public life, which includes "getting or using services" and "accessing public spaces", according to Australia's Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA).
"It's just truly infuriating. It's 2023 and I can't believe this is still happening," Shiloh's mum said.
Rainbow Nails staff said we "don't do nails for people like her", according to Shiloh's grandma (Google)Shiloh's grandma Kim Maberly-Stenner added she was "gobsmacked" by the "horrible", "terrible treatment".
She said that both she and non-verbal Shiloh burst into tears after the comments of the cruel staff.
"I was shocked, I couldn't believe that somebody actually said that," she said.
"It was heartbreaking, it was just horrible, it was just terrible. It made me cry, it upset me that much."
Keya Woodland, Shiloh's support worker, said she was stunned by what the salon worker told them, asking them three times for an explanation.
Shiloh's grandma said it was "heartbreaking" and that both she and the youngster burst out in tears (Jade Maberly-Stenner)She said: "I was completely just blown away, I was in shock, couldn't comprehend what they were actually saying, it did take me a moment to process it."
"I asked her again why she couldn't do her nails and she said 'because she has a disability and we don't do anybody with a disability'.
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"I asked her about three times if she could explain to me why and she said, 'My manager said no'."
Keya told the manicurist that what they were doing amounted to discrimination, and that it was illegal.
Shiloh's dad Darren said the fact that this level of discrimination had happened in a first world country is "extremely upsetting".
He said: "The fact a company would have a policy discriminating against persons with a disability in a first world country is extremely upsetting.
"Being Latino myself and having experienced discrimination on multiple occasions, it really hurts for my daughter to go through this as well."
Shiloh's parents - who help run a Vietnamese charity for orphaned kids with disabilities - say they hope other disadvantaged children aren't affected by the same discrimination.
The Mirror has reached out to Rainbow Nails for a comment.
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