As a public institution, UNM is required to:

1) Provide equal opportunity to all persons to participate in UNM’s benefits or services; 2) Provide effective means of communication for people with visual, hearing, speech and cognitive disabilities; 3) Provide program and facility accessibility; and 4) Provide employment and academic accommodations.

Pursuant to University Administrative Policy (UAP) 3110, departments are responsible for the costs of providing access to benefits or services, communication, and accommodations. Programs should not be canceled, nor should accommodations be refused, for lack of funding. Instead, a department that does not have sufficient funds to provide effective communication, program, or facility accessibility or accommodation should seek guidance from the UNM ADA Coordinator and should fill out the AP form to seek funding through their academic or programmatic chain.

For example, if an employee seeks an employment accommodation and the academic department has determined that it can pay 50% of the accommodation, the AP form should be utilized to seek the other 50% via the academic chain (up to and including the Provost and/or President).

The following conditions and criteria will be used when evaluating requests:

1. Departments are responsible for the costs of providing access, communication, and accommodations.
2. AP funds are intended only as an interim supplement to departmental resources, where budgets are demonstrably inadequate. Departments will need to assume the ongoing accessibility costs via regular budget processes and make the appropriate budgetary increase requests accordingly.
3. AP funds are not to be used to pay salaries.
4. Equipment or services purchased with AP funds are intended to be used only to support university-related activities.
5. AP funds may be used for services such as sign language interpreters or other communication services.
6. In general, office modification, equipment, or service requests should be for an individual’s current needs and not for perceived future needs. The primary exceptions to this rule include those instances where: A) a department has developed or is developing a specific program or activity designed to outreach to or recruit disabled persons; B) a department has a number of requests from individuals with similar disabilities who could potentially benefit from a commonly available equipment item; or C) modifications are necessary to be compliant with Title II of the ADA.
7. AP funds are not to be used to purchase custom-fit devices such as back or leg braces, hearing aids, or prescription eyeglasses, or to purchase services of a personal nature, such as assistance in eating, toileting, or dressing.

       8. PROPERTY/OWNERSHIP OF EQUIPMENT

Equipment purchased in whole or in part with AP funds will remain the property of UNM and be assigned to a department for use by a particular employee/group. Departments will keep the ADA Coordinator informed of the whereabouts of equipment and provide a copy of its inventory identification tag number. In the event that an employee assumes new job assignments or responsibilities on campus (within the same department or another department), the equipment purchased on behalf of that individual will continue to be made available to them as long as a clear job-related need for the equipment remains.

       9.    REQUEST PROCEDURES

All requests for the AP funds must be submitted to the ADA Coordinator. Requests will be reviewed and approved by the AP Committee on a case-by-case basis in light of available funds.

Departments will be required to provide the following justification of their requests:

• Background information: The nature of the request and whether the AP request is for communication, employment, programmatic, or facility access. If the request is for a one-time event, the dates of the event. The background information will also state what portion of the cost the department is able to pay, and the department index of the funds that will be used.
• If the request is for an ADA employment accommodation, the department will consult with the ADA Coordinator to ensure that the employee is certified as an individual with a disability and the request will include a description of the accommodation(s) determined to be reasonable.
• If the request is for a facility or programmatic access and requires building or other modifications, a quote for the cost of the modification.
• If the request involves computer software, the department shall work with the ADA Coordinator and Information Technologies (IT) to obtain a quote.

APPROVALS

Approvals outside the department will be made in consultation with the ADA Coordinator and will be approved or denied in a timely manner, in order to avoid delay in access.