Accessible Salon Opened in UK by Balcony Fall Survivor

Maddi Neale-Shankster made the decision to open the salon after struggling to access beauty treatments
Maddi Neale-Shankster made the decision to open the salon after struggling to access beauty treatments
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Accessible Salon Opened in UK by Balcony Fall Survivor

Maddi Neale-Shankster made the decision to open the salon after struggling to access beauty treatments
Maddi Neale-Shankster made the decision to open the salon after struggling to access beauty treatments

A beautician left paralyzed after a balcony fall has opened an accessible salon in the UK where people should "not feel like a burden for needing extra support,” BBC reported.

Maddi Neale-Shankster, from Coventry, made the decision after struggling to access beauty treatments, BBC said on Thursday.

Neale-Shankster hoped the salon would be a sanctuary for wheelchair users and the able-bodied alike. A place where people did not feel judged, she said.

Neale-Shankster was injured last year after falling 18.2m while holidaying with friends on the island of Ko Pha Ngan in Thailand.

Recalling an attempt to use a sunbed in the city with a friend's help, the 22-year-old said it could only be allowed if a door was left open.

The experience drove the beautician to open her own salon that she hopes will be a sanctuary for wheelchair users and able-bodied people alike, "where you don't feel judged, out of place, a burden for needing extra support."

"There's absolutely nothing that's ever gonna stop me from getting my lashes done and having a sunbed."

She had often been left with no option but to carry out catheter care at the back door of a former business premises, she said.

"I didn't fit in the toilet, I didn't fit down the corridor, I didn't fit in the nail desk," she told BBC CWR.

Now, her purpose-built salon features wider nail desks, rooms, doorways, and access via a slow inclining ramp.



Syria Seeks EU Help to Battle Massive Wildfires

FILE : A fire burns at a forest in Latakia province, Syria in this handout released by SANA on October 9, 2020. SANA/Handout via REUTERS
FILE : A fire burns at a forest in Latakia province, Syria in this handout released by SANA on October 9, 2020. SANA/Handout via REUTERS
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Syria Seeks EU Help to Battle Massive Wildfires

FILE : A fire burns at a forest in Latakia province, Syria in this handout released by SANA on October 9, 2020. SANA/Handout via REUTERS
FILE : A fire burns at a forest in Latakia province, Syria in this handout released by SANA on October 9, 2020. SANA/Handout via REUTERS

Syria’s minister of emergencies and disaster management on Tuesday requested support from the European Union to battle wildfires that have swept through a vast stretch of forested land.

The fires have been burning for six days, with Syrian emergency crews struggling to bring them under control amid strong winds and severe drought.

Neighboring countries Jordan, Lebanon and Türkiye have already dispatched firefighting teams to assist in the response.

“We asked the European Union for help in extinguishing the fires,” minister Raed al-Saleh said on X, adding Cyprus was expected to send aid on Tuesday, AFP reported.

“Fear of the fires spreading due to strong winds last night prompted us to evacuate 25 families to ensure their safety without any human casualties,” he added.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) office in Syria, the fires impacted “some 5,000 persons, including displacements, across 60 communities.”

An estimated 100 square kilometers (40 square miles) of forest and farmland -- more than three percent of Syria’s forest cover -- have burned, OCHA told AFP.

At least seven towns in Latakia province have been evacuated as a precaution.

Efforts to extinguish the fires have been hindered by “rugged terrain, the absence of firebreaks, strong winds, and the presence of mines and unexploded ordnance”, Saleh said.

With man-made climate change increasing the likelihood and intensity of droughts and wildfires worldwide, Syria has also been battered by heatwaves and low rainfall.

In June, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said Syria had “not seen such bad climate conditions in 60 years.”