Nail Salon Turns Away 14-Year-Old Girl Because It 'Doesn't Do People Like Her'
Discrimination is never in style.
Instagram A nail salon in Australia turned away a 14-year-old girl who wanted a manicure, after stating “we don’t do nails for people like her.”
Shiloh Maberly-Stenner, 14, was born with a rare developmental birth defect called open-lip bilateral schizencephaly, which left her missing part of her brain.
Maberly-Stenner is non-verbal and uses a wheelchair to get around.
The teenager visited Rainbow Nails in Robina, on Australia’s Gold Coast, with her grandma and care worker, only to be denied service by the salon.
RELATED: What Being Paralyzed From Neck Down Taught Me About White Privilege
She was turned away for services because of her disability, as the salon workers claimed “we don’t do nails for people like her.”
The salon claimed that their refusal to serve Maberly-Stenner was due to a “company policy that we don’t do people with disabilities” after someone with a disability complained in the past.
According to Australia’s Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA), denying services to people with disabilities is illegal.
Keya Woodland, who is Shiloh’s support worker, said as much to the salon worker who refused to serve them.
“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,’” Woodland explained.
“I asked her about three times if she could explain to me why and she said, ‘my manager said no,’” Woodland continued, describing her “shock” at the incident.
RELATED: I Went From Being Teased For Having Autism To Becoming A Social Media Influencer
Kim Maberly-Stenner, Shiloh’s grandma, said that the salon’s treatment of her granddaughter “was heartbreaking, it was just horrible, it was just terrible. It made me cry, it upset me that much.”
“I was shocked, I couldn’t believe that somebody actually said that,” she explained.
She reported that the unfair treatment made Shiloh burst into tears, as well.
The girls’ parents were also outraged by the salon’s discriminatory treatment of their beloved daughter.
Shiloh’s mother, Jade Maberly-Stenner, stated, “it’s just truly infuriating. It’s 2023 and I can’t believe this is still happening.”
Shiloh’s father, Darren Corea, said “being Latino myself and having experienced discrimination on multiple occasions, it really hurts for my daughter to go through this as well.”
Corea’s outrage was compounded by his opinion that “the fact a company would have a policy discriminating against persons with a disability in a first-world country is extremely upsetting.”
Whether the country in question is first-world or not, no one should be refused services because of a disability, or any other factor of personhood.
Alexandra Blogier is a writer on YourTango's news and entertainment team. She covers celebrity gossip, pop culture analysis and all things to do with the entertainment industry.