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Christine Burke, 18, who has spina bifida, plays tennis in
Christine Burke was an athletic, outgoing 14-year-old when
she headed up to South Lake Tahoe in July 2003 with her parents and little
brother for a summer vacation.
Born with spina bifida, and reliant on a manual
wheelchair, Christine routinely overcame obstacles. She learned to water- and
snow-ski, and plays competitive tennis and basketball with other disabled
athletes.
What lay before her on
On the first day of their trip, the family eagerly chose
to ride the new multimillion-dollar gondola at Heavenly Ski Resort. As was
their custom, her parents asked at the ticket booth if the ride was
wheelchair-accessible.
Assured that it was, they paid $70 for four tickets and
soared to the top with Christine and her wheelchair safely aboard, relishing
the spectacular view of the lake and mountains.
And then, a devastating barrier appeared. At the top,
where the gondola left passengers to dine and hike, there was no elevator or
ramp -- just two sets of stairs down to the picnic area.
Christine made a decision. The teenager with lively green
eyes hoisted herself out of her wheelchair and bumped down 44 metal stairs on
her bottom, one step at a time.
People stared, embarrassing her. But she pressed on, one
uncomfortable step at a time.
"It was degrading to have people stare at me,"
said the girl, now an 18-year-old high school senior with a splash of freckles
across her face. "It sort of ruined the whole day."
The concession stand area posed its own challenges, as the
paths were rutted and pocked with holes and the tables lacked any accessible
seating for people in wheelchairs.
Christine returned to the gondola car the same way,
sitting backward, awkwardly pulling herself up, step by step
The Burkes had never filed a disability access suit;
Christine had always seemed to manage. But this experience was deeply
troubling.
"She's not beyond pushing on some dirt roads -- she
has done that," said Christine's mother, Dawn Graeme, a 50-year-old
physical therapist. "This is not as though we go up to the mountains and
expect Mother Nature to have paved things from top to bottom."
What they did expect, she said, was that a
multimillion-dollar gondola built years after passage of the Americans With
Disabilities Act would have a "ramp, an elevator and safe access."
The family eventually sued, hiring longtime
The case was settled in 2005 and Christine received
$80,000 in damages. Attorney's fees, including consultants, came to an
additional $106,000.
More importantly, family members say, the resort agreed to
install and maintain an elevator at the gondola's uppermost platform and make
the concession grounds accessible.
Heavenly spokesman Russ Pecoraro said that the facilities
were out of compliance when current owners, Vail Resorts, took over the ski
area in spring 2002, the year after the gondola opened. Since then, Pecoraro
said, the company has spent more than $900,000 upgrading facilities and
improving access -- much of it on the gondola.
Christine's parents, who had agonized over whether to sue,
hope to never do so again. Their attorney, said the mother, had to talk them
into taking the settlement money, which they have set aside for Christine's
college education.
But they do take pride in making a difference for the
thousands of disabled tourists who come behind them.
"The world is not accessible, I know that,"
Christine said recently. "I do adapt to an inaccessible world."
And sometimes, the world can be nudged to adapt to her.