Parents’ outrage after a shopping mall nail salon refused service to their 14-year-old daughter born with a rare disability
- Shiloh was born with open-lip bilateral schizencephaly
- The 14-year-old is in a wheelchair and non-verbal
- Rainbow Nails Robina, Gold Coast, refused to serve her
The outraged parents and carers of a teenage girl who suffers from a rare medical condition have slammed a nail salon for refusing to do nails ‘for people like her’.
Queensland couple Jade Maberly-Stenner and Darren Corea were furious when their daughter Shiloh was turned away from a Gold Coast nail salon due to her disability.
Shiloh’s grandmother Kim Maberly-Stenner and support worker Keya Woodland took the teen to Rainbow Nails at Robina Town Centre in late December to have her nails done for Christmas.
Shiloh (pictured) was born with open-lip bilateral schizencephaly – an extremely rare birth defect which causes slits or clefts in the cerebral hemispheres of the brain – leaving the teen ‘missing half her brain’ and in a wheelchair
The 14-year-old was taken to Rainbow Nails in Robina Town Centre (pictured) by her grandmother and carer but was denied service because of her disability
The 14-year-old was born with open-lip bilateral schizencephaly – an extremely rare birth defect which causes slits or clefts in the cerebral hemispheres of the brain – leaving the teen ‘missing half her brain’ and in a wheelchair.
‘They essentially said, “no we can’t, we don’t do nails for people like her”,’ Shiloh’s mother Jade told the Gold Coast Bulletin.
‘They were like, “we’ve had someone with a disability complain in the past, so now we just have a company policy that we don’t do people with disabilities”.
‘It’s just truly infuriating. It’s 2023 and I can’t believe this is still happening.’
Shiloh’s grandmother was ‘gobsmacked’ by the nail salon’s justification and said the ordeal made her non-verbal granddaughter burst into tears.
‘I was shocked, I couldn’t believe that somebody actually said that,’ Kim said.
‘It was heartbreaking, it was just horrible, it was just terrible. It made me cry, it upset me that much.’
Shiloh’s mum Jade Maberly-Stenner (pictured getting her nails done with Shiloh on another occasion) said the ordeal was ‘infuriating’
Shiloh’s support worker Ms Woodland said she was unable to comprehend the salon’s reasoning and asked the worker three times for an explanation.
‘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,’ Ms Woodland told the Bulletin.
‘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”.
‘I asked her about three times if she could explain to me why and she said, “My manager said no”.’
Ms Woodland told the worker that refusing to do Shiloh’s nails was discrimination.
She believes businesses need more education on how to treat people living with a disability.
Under the the Disability Discrimination Act 1992, it is against the law to discriminate against a person because of their disability.
Shiloh’s carer explained to the nail salon that refusing to do the 14-year-old’s nails was discrimination
Shiloh’s father Darren said it was ‘extremely upsetting’ that a business in Australia would discriminate against his daughter.
‘The fact a company would have a policy discriminating against persons with a disability in a first world country is extremely upsetting,’ he said.
‘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 help run a charity in Vietnam for orphaned children with disabilities and hope the discrimination experienced by their daughter does not happen to other disadvantaged children.
A Robina Town Centre spokesperson told Daily Mail the complaint was discussed with Rainbow Nails.
‘The comfort and safety of our entire community is very important to us,’ Robina Town Centre said.
‘We can confirm we have approached the retailer and these concerns have been discussed.’
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Rainbow Nails for comment.
Shiloh’s parents Jade Maberly-Stenner and Darren Corea (pictured) want to make sure what happened to their daughter does not happen to other children with disabilities