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.
