The New Mexico Commission for the Blind receives about four complaints each year from students using UNM's Accessibility Services, according to the director.
Greg Trapp said those complaints are usually related to services dealing with access to textbooks and materials.
"Ideally, we would not like to have any complaints," Trapp said. "It's understandable how sometimes problems can arise. I certainly would prefer not to see each year the same types of complaints coming up that are being brought by blind students."
Juan Candelaria, director of Accessibility Services, said he doesn't want to play the blame game and declined to comment further.
UNM students with permanent disabilities need to bring documentation to the office to receive services.
Six weeks into the semester, Shasheen Smith said she is "really, really behind," because she has only received three chapters from three books and two sections from a math book. She said she still does not have anything from her psychology book.
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She said she was given the runaround as to how she could get her books transcribed.
Accessibility Services purchases all books requested and converts them depending on student's needs.
Smith is blind in her right eye and has little sight in her left eye. She is able to use textbooks with 36 size sans serif font.
She said she requested the books for her classes the week before the fall semester started.
"Students wait until the last minute, and then we get swamped with 50 or 60 books at one time," said Jarrod Diehl, a scanner at Accessibility Services. "There is only so much we can do."
There are four scanners used by employees to convert books, Diehl said. Sometimes a scanner has to be used from the College of Education to keep up with demand, he said.
But Smith, a transfer student, said that is only part of the problem. She said the employees at Accessibility Services haven't been accommodating, and at times they are hostile.
She has sent numerous complaints to Candelaria about note takers, professor accommodation, ways to help locate her classes on campus, blank disks, and laptops, among other things. The situation has reached the UNM Counsel's Office.
"They have just been real facetious with every little thing I've asked them to be accommodating for," she said.
Trapp said he has a good working relationship with Candelaria and is not hesitant to pick up the phone when a complaint is received in his office.
Though student employees do not deal directly with clients, Diehl said he has heard of Smith's case.
"She is very high on the priority list," he said. "She is the one we have been dealing with, trying to get her whatever she wants."
Smith said she has received some response to the letters, but "it's just been one big mess after another."
Trapp said he sees the role of his office, a state agency, as working with the University administration to correct these kinds of problems.
He said he did not know how much of the problem results from training, turnover or funding, but he would not like to see these types of problems coming up on an annual basis.
"I think the accessibility services program could use additional financial resources and staffing," he said. "I see that as being part of the difficulty that needs to be addressed."
