Peshastin man with ALS highlights challenges disabled people might face in NCW

Mar. 6—WENATCHEE — John Miklosh has pictures of himself — rock climbing, skydiving, hiking, riding dirt bikes, paragliding, scuba diving, white water rafting, snowmobiling, and doing other activities.

Now, he has to plan how he is going get around outside using his wheelchair, and what he would do if he gets stuck.

In early 2021, Miklosh's life changed when he was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. ALS is a nervous system disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, causing loss of muscle control, which gets worse over time, according to the Mayo Clinic's website. Eventually, ALS affects the muscles needed to move, speak, eat, and breathe. There's no cure for the fatal disease, according to Mayo Clinic, and half of the people with ALS die within 14 to 18 months of diagnosis.

Miklosh said he didn't know how long he will live, but looked to Stephen Hawking, who lived more than 50 years with ALS, as a source of optimism.

Now, Miklosh can't move his left leg and can only move his left arm in certain ways. He said eventually ALS will move to the right side of his body. He is able to drive himself from his home in Peshastin to work at the Washington State Department of Transportation in Wenatchee.

He said he is planning to work as long as he can and is saving his money to buy a wheelchair van and wheelchair to go on dirt pathways for hiking and nature strolls.

While he is still alive, Miklosh wants to spread awareness about the challenges handicapped people face.

Last month, Miklosh went to a radio station to talk about the challenges of being handicapped, such as when he went to park in a handicapped parking space and someone else beat him to it. The person got out of the car and walked, and Miklosh said he saw no handicapped parking placard in the car.

Miklosh said he waited seven minutes for the person to return and leave. He said he asked the person why he parked in the handicapped parking space if he wasn't handicapped and the person told Miklosh he was in a hurry and was sorry.

Trips to stores can be challenging for Miklosh, he said, with narrow aisles and objects and people obstructing the pathway.

Miklosh recalled at time he went to Home Depot in Wenatchee by himself. He used an electric shopping cart to maneuver an aisle with a lot of palettes and displays. When he tried to back out of the dead end, he ran into another dead end and became stuck. He said he called out to nearby people to help free him.

In January, Miklosh went to the Chelan County Courthouse to be with his son for an appointment. He said when they arrived, they had to drive around the parking lot for a handicapped parking spot to open. He said he noticed the biggest handicapped space had orange cones and was unavailable.

Miklosh said from his experiences, businesses and building owners will put cones on handicapped parking spaces for loading and unloading items, as handicapped spaces are near a ramp.

Miklosh said the other handicapped parking spaces at the courthouse are normal-sized and not wide enough for car doors to fully open, which is needed for anyone using a wheelchair.

Miklosh had his son push him up the ramp toward the east side entrance of the courthouse. He said it might be hard for someone in a wheelchair to do it by themselves.

To enter the courthouse, he said he pressed a button for an automatic door, but instead the door farthest from him opened and he had to pivot.

While waiting for his son's appointment on the fourth floor of the courthouse, Miklosh needed to use the bathroom. He said the fourth floor bathroom was a challenge because the door was not automatic. When he opened the door, the bathroom stalls were not big enough for his wheelchair.

Scared to get stuck, Miklosh said he asked a clerk if there was a wheelchair-accessible bathroom and was told there was one on the first floor. The first floor men's bathroom had a handicapped sign, but no automatic door. He said he struggled to open the door and lost strength to keep trying. He left the courthouse by himself to find another bathroom.

Miklosh said burned his hands from slowing his wheels down to prevent him from losing control on the ramp leaving the courthouse.

Chelan County public information officer, Jill FitzSimmons, wrote in an email that the county recently completed an ADA (Americans with Disability Act) self-evaluation and transition plan with consultant Vitruvian Planning LLC, of Boise Idaho.

The plan is in a final review and county commissioners are expected to approve it in the coming months, making it available on the county's website, she added.

The plan is part of a facilities 20-year master plan, where multiple facilities and properties owned by the county were evaluated.

"The plan was generated through a combination of technical analysis and public input to define priorities for Chelan County so we can transition our facilities and services into compliance with ADA," FitzSimmons wrote.

Once the plan is adopted, some upgrades will happen immediately, while other long-term priorities could be addressed in 10 to 20 years, FitzSimmons wrote.

On Miklosh's concerns about the parking lot ramp to the courthouse being too steep, FitzSimmons wrote the entrance ramp is four shorter ramps, between 20 to 23 feet, with three flat landings in between. And per ADA rules, the maximum allowed length of a single ramp section is 30 feet.

"The average grade of our entrance ramp is 7.9%, which is less than the maximum ADA recommended grade of 8.3%," she wrote. "Scattered within the entrance ramp, there are three 6-foot long panels, which have an 8.7% grade. They were, unfortunately, necessary to accomplish the elevation gain needed within the limited length of the ramp. To accommodate anyone who might have difficulty using our ramp, we provided a western entrance to the courthouse vestibule (from Washington Street) that also is an ADA-compliant entrance. It has a new flat concrete approach with no ramp at all and multiple automated ADA doors."

FitzSimmons also wrote the number and size of handicapped parking spaces were identified in the self-evaluation and transition plan.

"Once the plan is finalized, we will begin working to fix, mitigate or justify the deficiencies found during the assessment," she wrote."Re-marking the back parking lot spaces to reflect ADA recommendations will be one of the first and easiest solutions."

To Miklosh's concerns about the entrance automatic doors opening farthest from him, FitzSimmons wrote the function is necessary to mitigate conflicting ADA rules.

"If the door in front of whomever is pressing the button were to open, it would hit the user," she wrote. "Ideally the button would have been mounted further from the doors. This was not possible because the railing, required by ADA rules, would have obstructed a pole-mounted button."

She added the entrance door is programmed to hold for a longer duration than most automatic doors.

On Miklosh's concerns about the fourth floor bathroom's small size and the first floor bathrooms not having an automatic door, FitzSimmons said the 100-year-old courthouse was built before ADA standards existed, so the bathrooms didn't meet current standards, and modifying them was complicated by the building's designs and the governing rules of historic buildings. There are other ADA-compliant bathrooms in the recently connected Law and Justice Building, she added.

"Unfortunately, ADA rules only recommend bathroom door and stall dimensions. They do not require bathrooms to have automated doors," she wrote.

FitzSimmons wrote the county meets federal ADA standards by having an ADA transition program. She added the county will work toward its self-assessed ADA goals for all of its facilities.

Miklosh said he doesn't have any personal grudges toward local businesses or the county that don't always meet the needs of handicapped people because before he was in a wheelchair, he didn't realize how many obstacles there were.

"The world looks different from down here," Miklosh said, sitting in his wheelchair.

He said one thing people can do is not crowd pathways, like ramps and handicapped parking spaces, because handicapped people often need more room than the space provided to get out of vehicles.

He also wants people to not park in handicapped spaces no matter how long they think they'll park.

Miklosh said people should show compassion to everyone because not everyone's disabilities are visible and people may not talk about their disabilities.

"Get to know people," Miklosh said. "Talk to your coworkers, your neighbors, your friends, because some people may not be as willing to share as I am and you may not know what kind of disabilities they have or what difficulties they face until you ask or get to know them."

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