HALL COUNTY - A Gainesville claims she was turned away from an Oakwood hair salon because she is in a wheelchair.
Cindy Herren said the manager of Rite Cuts told her they couldn't shampoo her hair because her wheelchair would not fit in the station.
"I said, 'I can transfer,' and he said 'No, I think it would be better to go to another place where they know about people like you and can deal with your wheelchair,'" Cindy Herren told 11Alive.
A stylist at the salon said the problem was that no one came with Herren to help her out of her chair and into the shampoo station.
"For liability reasons, we do not lift clients out of their chair. [Herren] explained that she had gone to another shop and that shop was able to shampoo her in her wheelchair," stylist Natalie Connell said.
She said both Herren and the manager agreed she should stay with that original shop, though Connell says they still offered to cut her hair.
The salon is regulated by Oakwood's Planning and Zoning Department. After 11Alive's story ran, Inspector Joe Hayes conducted an investigation and found the salon does not violate any codes.
According to Hayes, the Americans with Disabilities Act says businesses must make accommodations for all handicapped people. Because there is no specific language regulating salon sinks, Hayes inspected the shampoo stations using ADA's parameters for a handicap accessible toilet, including height and handle distance.
Though the sinks and chairs are attached, he concluded that they to meet all requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act.