Ceiling fan lightbulb replacement
You are correct in that no sane manufacturer would build something that would require disassembly of the fan to change the light bulbs. 

This looks like a split glass assembly, you might have a locking ring above the fan blades, if it is a locking ring type unscrew the locking ring and it would drop down and allow you to slide one glass side out in order to change the bulbs. You might have to remove the blades to do this - but I can not be sure. 

Since you do not list the make and model it is difficult to give more specifics.