Every girl deserves the opportunity to get their nails done – so when a woman was turned away from a nail salon because of her disability, Ebony Harris stepped up to help.
Harris works as a cashier at the Walmart in Burton, Michigan. As she was taking her lunch break last week, she watched as Angela Peters, a woman who is in a wheelchair for her cerebral palsy, was turned down at the indoor nail salon because her hands shake as a result of her condition.
Not wanting Peters to leave the store without a beautiful manicure, Harris offered to paint the woman’s nails herself.
The two women picked out the perfect polish, sat down at the Subway restaurant inside the store, and Harris spent her lunch break painting Peters’s nails.
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“I just wanted to make her day special. I didn’t really want her day to be ruined. That’s why I did it. And plus she’s a sweetie,” Harris told WJRT. “And you know, she moved her hands a little bit and she kept saying she was sorry. And, I told her don’t say that. I said you’re fine.”
Tasia Smith, who works at the Subway next to the nail salon, snapped a photo of the exchange and posted it to Facebook where it was shared thousands of times.
Some social media users commented on the photo saying that they plan on boycotting the nail salon for their actions – but Harris wants people to know that she did not want her labor of love to alienate the salon workers; she simply wanted them to realize that people with disabilities deserve the same amount of love and attention as anybody else.
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“We’re not trying to bash the nail salon. We’re not trying to make them lose customers, make them look bad,” Harris told the news outlet. “But maybe spread awareness that no matter the person, who they are, what color they are, disability, whatever, they’re people too. She’s a girly girl. She’s just like you, me, Tasia, my daughter, anybody. She wants to look pretty, you know, and so why can’t she?”
According to WJRT, Peters and Harris have become friends after their initial encounter, and they already have plans to get dinner together in the near future.
Share This Sweet Story Of Inclusivity With Your Friends – Photo by Tasia Smith