Latest / Podcasts By Donna Jodhan / Remarkable World Commentary Episode #102: Interview with Aaron Di Blasi, Sr. PMP, Mind Vault Solutions, Ltd., Regarding Her Ongoing Attempt To Take The Apex Program's CompTIA Network+ Exam at a Pearson Vue Testing Center As A Blind Woman in Canada
Transcript
- 0:12Podcast Commentator: Greetings, Donna J. Jodhan, LLBAP and MBA invites you to listen to her
- 0:20biweekly podcast, Remarkable World Commentary.
- 0:24Here, Donna shares some of her innermost thoughts,
- 0:27insights, perspectives, and more with her listeners.
- 0:31Donna focuses on topics that directly affect the future of kids,
- 0:35especially kids with disabilities.
- 0:38Donna is a blind advocate, author, sight loss coach,
- 0:42dinner mystery producer, writer, entrepreneur,
- 0:45law graduate, and podcast commentator.
- 0:49She has decades of lived experiences, knowledge,
- 0:53skills, and expertise in access, technology and information.
- 0:58As someone who has been internationally recognized for her work and roles.
- 1:02She just wants to make things better than possible.
- 1:07Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of Remarkable World Commentary.
- 1:15I'm Donna J. Jodhan, a lifelong disability advocate and one who sees the world mainly
- 1:23through sound, touch and stubborn optimism.
- 1:29I am a law graduate, an accessibility consultant,
- 1:33an author, a lifelong barrier buster who also happens to be blind.
- 1:40You may know me from a few headline moments, as in November 2010,
- 1:46I won the landmark charter case that forced the Canadian government to make its websites
- 1:53accessible to every Canadian, not just his cite it once.
- 2:00And in July of 2019, I co-led the Accessible Canada Act with more than two dozen
- 2:09disability groups to turn equal access into federal law.
- 2:15And most recently, on June the 3rd, 2022, I was greatly humbled by Her Late
- 2:22Majesty's Platinum Jubilee Award for tireless commitment to removing barriers.
- 2:30When I'm not in a courtroom or in a committee room or in a pottery studio,
- 2:37you'll find me coaching kids with vision loss,
- 2:42producing audio mysteries, or helping tech companies to make their
- 2:47gadgets talk back in plain language.
- 2:52Everything I do circles one goal to turn accessibility from an afterthought into
- 2:59everyday practice. I invite you to think of this show as our shared workbench,
- 3:07where policy meets lived experience and lived experience sparks fresh ideas.
- 3:15Now, before we jump into today's conversation,
- 3:19let me shine a spotlight on today's guest, a change maker whose work is every bit
- 3:28remarkable as the world that we are trying to build.
- 3:32I will let him tell you more about himself, but for now,
- 3:36I'd like to welcome my friend, my associate,
- 3:39my mentor, Aaron Di Blasi.
- 3:42Welcome again to the Remarkable World Commentary.
- 3:47Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Hello Miss Donna. Thank you again for having me.
- 3:50It's always great to be on this podcast with you.
- 3:52I always have so much fun, and I think we're going to have a great deal
- 3:56of fun today. And that's what it's about.
- 3:58Sad as the topic might be.
- 4:01It will be a great deal of fun too, to let everyone know what's happening,
- 4:06because I don't think a lot of people know about this.
- 4:09So I am excited to get it into the eyes and ears of many more people.
- 4:14Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Let's get started. Go for it.
- 4:16Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Okay, well, let's just let people know first a little bit about me because this being your
- 4:21podcast, I'm going to assume they know about you.
- 4:24My name is Aaron Diblasi and I am an engineer by trade,
- 4:28a software engineer of more than 30 years.
- 4:31I got into the accessibility space in 2004 when I began working for the then publisher
- 4:36of Top Tech Tidbits the weekly newsletter, which is currently the leading weekly not for
- 4:42profit newsletter for disability technology information.
- 4:46We spun off other publications.
- 4:48We'll get into that. We don't need to cover that in this podcast.
- 4:52The point being, I've been working with Donna as her friend and mentor for probably 13
- 4:56years now. We were introduced by Mr.
- 4:59Larry Lewis, who was the former publisher of Top Tech Tidbits,
- 5:03and during that time, Donna has taught me a lot about what real
- 5:06advocacy means. And today is two things.
- 5:10It is a tragedy, and it is also a workshop on real advocacy and what that means,
- 5:16the real painful, costly type of advocacy.
- 5:20And with that, I will set the stage.
- 5:22And Donna, if there's anything that you would like to say to that before we open
- 5:26up, just let me know.
- 5:28Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: No, I can't wait for this interview to take place.
- 5:31And I want to thank you for for walking the walk with me.
- 5:34So let's walk.
- 5:36Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Let's, let's walk, let's tell the story.
- 5:38Hopefully we don't get too entrenched in that. But the story is the important part.
- 5:42So let's start on November 25th, 2024.
- 5:47When you were awarded a full $7,500 USD scholarship to the Apex program,
- 5:5312 weeks sponsored by Nova Coast.
- 5:56This scholarship was facilitated in part by Doctor Kirk Adams.
- 5:59He helped to make it possible.
- 6:02Would you like to talk about how you felt the day that you received that news?
- 6:06Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: You know, I still remember that day when I think it was you who told me and I
- 6:11thought, nah, this can't.
- 6:13Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: I think it might have been. Yeah, I think it might have been. Yeah. Yeah.
- 6:16Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Well, why would I, of all people, a Canadian,
- 6:19receive a scholarship from Doctor Kirk Adams,
- 6:22like, well, through Doctor Kirk Adams.
- 6:24And I thought sure I can't be true.
- 6:27And then you said oh yes, it's very
- 6:29true. So it.
- 6:31Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Was indeed. Yeah. And apex being a United States based program and you being in Canada,
- 6:37you know, that's the important part to distinguish. Yeah.
- 6:39But it was it was wonderful.
- 6:41It was fantastic. I was very excited for you.
- 6:43And the reason was that I was excited for Donna is she always had a great interest in
- 6:48cybersecurity. So any, any program specific to blind people with the
- 6:53word blind people specifically in the program made,
- 6:56I thought, would make her very happy. And it did you know.
- 6:59Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yes it.
- 6:59Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Did. Yes it did. However, days later, Donna received her first login.
- 7:05You know, and this is the nervous part. I don't know if you want to say anything
- 7:08about this part, Donna.
- 7:10Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Well, oh my gosh, the first login and I
- 7:15quickly realized, oh.
- 7:17Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Well, this is where you find out. This is where you find out if it's real. This is
- 7:20where you find out if it's going to happen.
- 7:22And unfortunately, I think listeners know it didn't happen. The screen reader reads
- 7:26nothing. We contact apex and apex says it's a glitch.
- 7:31Okay. That's right. Well, I go and I take a look.
- 7:34Again, I'm a software engineer.
- 7:35And by look, I don't mean that I just looked.
- 7:38I mean that I use tools to probe the code and to see what was going on.
- 7:41And what we figured out was there was no LMS that stands for Learning Management System.
- 7:47And that's the only real way that you're going to develop or deliver an accessible
- 7:52experience to a learner online is to customize an LMS,
- 7:56and they did not have an LMS in place at all.
- 7:58It was simply a static HTML page.
- 8:01And for whatever reason, her screen reader could not read it nor
- 8:04access it. So at her request we reached out to apex and asked if they could provide it in
- 8:11a, quote, accessible format.
- 8:13And I, at my recommendation we asked for word documents because I just know it's a
- 8:18fallback. And surprisingly, they provided us with just that word
- 8:22documents. 21 of them 21 typo riddled and visibly out of date word documents.
- 8:29At least from my view as a, as a visual person.
- 8:32And Donna backed this up with her, you know,
- 8:35use of a screen reader to search for certain terms,
- 8:37etc., none of which came up due to the way that the documents were created.
- 8:42And I think anyone listening will understand that portion.
- 8:46So we quickly realized that the $7,500 amounted to about 21 word documents,
- 8:51which was okay because we thought, well, you know,
- 8:54there's still the help that Donna's going to get. There's these workshops, there's all of
- 8:57this assistance, you know, so at least we still get
- 9:00that right. Donna.
- 9:02Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: That's right. We, we, we thought that, you know,
- 9:05I get that. But lo and behold
- 9:09Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Well, she reaches out to one David Mayne, I believe.
- 9:12Yes. Is that correct? David Maine and she asks how a blind person should study
- 9:17specifically. And his response, they had no idea what I was talking about.
- 9:22And I was there for that email.
- 9:24And they literally had no idea what she was talking about.
- 9:27When we say that, I mean, his response was, there's there's the word
- 9:31documents. What else do you need?
- 9:35What else do you need? They're accessible. You can you can access them. Right? And we
- 9:38said, yes, we can access them. What else do you need? And we,
- 9:41you know, we explained what isn't there, you know, assistance or, you know, there
- 9:44workshops. Is there anyone to, you know, watch my schedule as I get closer
- 9:50to testing? But apparently there was none of that.
- 9:52And there was none of that, simply because they wouldn't answer.
- 9:55So I decided that we needed, if Donna wanted to continue with this,
- 10:01that we were going to need some help.
- 10:02And for, for me as an engineer, that help is artificial intelligence today.
- 10:07So we took those 21 word documents and we ran them through some of the smartest AI
- 10:11available. And we had that AI cross-referenced some of that incorrect
- 10:16information with correct information and form tests that Donna could actually access using
- 10:22code that her screen reader would understand.
- 10:25Now, the irony is that Donna, probably at the end of it,
- 10:30ended up spending $7,500 getting that information into a format
- 10:34that she could study.
- 10:36Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: That's correct.
- 10:37Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: So that's, that's the food for thought, I think,
- 10:40for this section. One year later despite all of this,
- 10:44no assistance, no human assistance, no workshops,
- 10:47no nothing, just an exchange of emails with David Main here and there.
- 10:52But no real new information provided.
- 10:56One year later, Donna Masters, all 21 chapters from using the AI generated
- 11:02study guides and the flash tests that we created for her.
- 11:06And basically it would just generate a new flash test on a subject every single time
- 11:10until she could master them at a 90 to 100% efficiency rate over and over and over.
- 11:17We think it's a very unique way for a blind person to learn a large corpus of material,
- 11:23by the way. So let's everybody keep that in mind.
- 11:27Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: You know, I guess if I if my head was properly screwed on,
- 11:33I would have realized right away when I saw the inaccessible login that there was much
- 11:41trouble ahead. But you know me, you said so.
- 11:43Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: You said so, and I did not doubt you.
- 11:45I was just hoping for the best, but
- 11:48unfortunately, it just got worse.
- 11:50Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: And you know, for me, I always think it's going to get better.
- 11:53It's going to get better. But you know, it's like,
- 11:55think of it this way. You're in the ocean and you expect those waves to get less and less.
- 12:01Well, they got higher and higher and higher.
- 12:04Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: They they did, they did.
- 12:05Wait till we see what those waves did.
- 12:07Yeah. Yeah. So so the point is at this point,
- 12:10Donna moves on and we decide that we're going to do it all ourself.
- 12:14I mean that's mostly Donna mind you.
- 12:17And she got through this and she mastered the material and she said, Aaron, I'm ready to
- 12:20test. Which I thought was amazing.
- 12:23And then the next obstacle presented itself.
- 12:27Remote testing was ruled out.
- 12:29Donna's needs for the bathroom exceeded the two hour on camera window.
- 12:33So that was not an accommodation that they could allow.
- 12:36So she had to test at a center, which we knew,
- 12:39and we figured and that was fine.
- 12:41You know, Donna has done that many times for many other certifications. She put in a
- 12:46request for accommodations.
- 12:47Pearson returned about 2 to 3 days later with those accommodations and gave her everything
- 12:53that she asked for. But then 2 or 3 days after that,
- 12:56they called and said that her location had changed because they could not accommodate
- 13:01her at the location that they had originally agreed to accommodate her at.
- 13:05So they changed that location.
- 13:08And Donna asked basically, are you sure this is final?
- 13:11And they said, of course it is.
- 13:13Of course it is.
- 13:13Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: So yes.
- 13:15Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: October 1st, 2025 exam day.
- 13:19Now, Don, I would like you to take the steering wheel here a little bit and talk
- 13:22about the airport style scanners, the Kleenex that was confiscated,
- 13:27and the proctor that you met for the first time ever.
- 13:31Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: So they confiscated my Kleenex.
- 13:34They confiscated everything I had brought, although I made darn sure that my stuff you
- 13:40know, I had put them all in transparent bags,
- 13:43so they took everything out of those bags, out of my bags and gave me their
- 13:49bags. All right.
- 13:51Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Pearson is serious about cheating. We we all
- 13:53know that. Yeah.
- 13:54Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: So then we go into just outside the the the exam room and I meet my reader.
- 14:02I could tell that she was quite young because her voice sounded young.
- 14:07She was quite friendly and everything.
- 14:09But then you know, what came about next was there were two things.
- 14:14First, they had to read all the agreement documents to me.
- 14:19I asked if it was there in electronic format and they said no.
- 14:25So they read it to me.
- 14:26I signed everything. I walked into the room with my reader.
- 14:32I thought I was going to have a recorder and a reader recorder to record my.
- 14:38Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: That's what you were supposed to have.
- 14:39Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: That's correct. But I didn't have it. So the young.
- 14:42Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Was that accommodation met?
- 14:44We don't know. Right?
- 14:45Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: No. Well, it wasn't met at that time because I thought it would be two
- 14:49persons. It was one.
- 14:50Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: It was supposed to be. Yeah.
- 14:51Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. So we sat down and she logged in.
- 14:54And again she read all the documents to me, the pre exam documents,
- 15:00which I agreed to. And you know, we signed off on it.
- 15:04And then came the big wave.
- 15:07That being that she brought up the exam.
- 15:11And the very first question was one filled with diagrams.
- 15:16And I knew then I was in big trouble.
- 15:19Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: An example of those questions from the diagrams below.
- 15:23Select the configuration that shows a proper network connection.
- 15:27Now just imagine that listeners, whether you are blind or sighted,
- 15:30you know that you are attempting to answer a question regarding proper network connection
- 15:35cables in different orientations.
- 15:38I mean, that's an incredible visual challenge,
- 15:40to say nothing of properly describing that visual
- 15:43challenge, you know?
- 15:45Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: But then came the horror.
- 15:48When I said to her, I said, could you just look to see if there are
- 15:52similar questions to this one?
- 15:55And she quickly scanned it down the questions and she said there were quite a few at that
- 16:01point. I said, so I wonder what we should do?
- 16:04And I she said to me, I don't know how to read these
- 16:08questions to you.
- 16:09Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: I believe her exact response was, I don't know what to do here.
- 16:13Yeah. That's right. Which we understand she was not she was not prepared for this does
- 16:17not make this this person's fault, mind you.
- 16:19However, she was not given the tools, as we later will learn,
- 16:24that she should have been provided for this particular session.
- 16:27Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: So I made the decision to pull the plug on this exam.
- 16:31We were not going to go anywhere, right?
- 16:34When when someone says, I don't know what to do,
- 16:37I think, oh.
- 16:38Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Well, sure. And nor should your exam be based on someone else's descriptions of an exam
- 16:44that they've never seen before today.
- 16:45Right. You know, I, I always said from the very beginning,
- 16:48Don, I said that these tests, you know, if I'm CompTIA,
- 16:52I have to provide these tests in an accessible format.
- 16:55That's the top of the chain.
- 16:56So therefore there must exist a sanctioned official description of each network diagram
- 17:03that should be provided to a blind person.
- 17:05So really, if she were handed that document, she could have simply read the alt
- 17:08descriptions that were approved, assuming they existed.
- 17:12However, we did not know at the time whether they existed or not.
- 17:17Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: No we didn't. So I pulled the plug on the exam,
- 17:20walked out of the exam, told them
- 17:22what had happened, but.
- 17:23Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Very frustrating day for you.
- 17:25A very sad day for you.
- 17:26Yes.
- 17:27Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: And the administration staff.
- 17:29Well, they just simply said we're not here to help you.
- 17:32We're just here to make sure you take the exam.
- 17:35Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: So the feeling that I always got from Pearson is that we prevent cheating at all costs.
- 17:43Even the cost of accessibility, it seems.
- 17:45And I know that accessibility is very close to cheating.
- 17:48I mean, I understand that, but guys, come on,
- 17:52you know, oh my God, it's just so frustrating.
- 17:54Okay. October 3rd, 2025.
- 17:58After this happens, a call with apex.
- 18:01They later claimed that they gave consent for her to write about this situation.
- 18:07Now, what we want to talk about at this point is that you began publishing your frustration
- 18:14publicly in a series of articles.
- 18:17These, these articles exist listeners online.
- 18:20There are currently three of them available with a fourth one due to be published soon.
- 18:26And believe it or not, by the end of this podcast,
- 18:28there may even be a number five because we don't know if this is closed yet.
- 18:32However, on October 14th, 2025, Donna published part one of her series
- 18:39about her experience and literally her honest experience.
- 18:43Everything that we've talked about up to this point was published within the article.
- 18:48Apex's response to this article, the very next day,
- 18:51was, please pause any further media rollout until a meeting.
- 18:57The reason they gave was the damage this article has done to our brand is significant.
- 19:03Now let's. Mind you, this was not a request.
- 19:05It almost seemed to be a demand, as if they had some type of authority over
- 19:10Donna's ability to publicly and honestly log her experience.
- 19:16Does that make sense? Yeah, that's kind of how how I,
- 19:20and I was frankly appalled at their at their response,
- 19:24not just from a disability perspective, but just from a pure PR perspective.
- 19:28You know, the first when someone says you're not accessible or you've hurt me or your
- 19:32product has hurt me, or your service is not what it's supposed to be,
- 19:36I don't know a company in the world in an email that says,
- 19:38well, take it down until we can talk, I've never experienced that in my 30 years in
- 19:44marketing. So that was unique.
- 19:46And at that point, I think we knew we were dealing with some unique people.
- 19:50Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yes, we were those people.
- 19:52Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Our contacts at that point had had spanned out from David Mayne to Katie Mcauliff and
- 19:58her attorney, Emmy Savenelli.
- 20:01Yeah. Yeah. And that was apparently the counsel,
- 20:05the legal counsel for apex who was also copied on these initial requests for us to
- 20:11take down Donna's initial post in which she described her experience with apex and
- 20:18exactly as we've described it, 21 word documents,
- 20:20no human assistance, no workshops, nothing that they actually promised for the
- 20:26was delivered outside of 21 word documents, which were riddled with errors.
- 20:30Okay. Other blind test takers begin to write to Donna at this point.
- 20:36They have had similar experiences with Pearson not necessarily just from
- 20:40cybersecurity and not necessarily from apex, but they had similar experiences trying to
- 20:45test with CompTIA exams through Pearson as a blind person.
- 20:50So they understood. But the difference is they didn't have they weren't advocates.
- 20:53They didn't have media dollars.
- 20:55They didn't have the ability to get on a podcast and talk about what's happened to
- 20:59them. So they were just stuck, much like Donna is currently stuck.
- 21:04We'll talk about that.
- 21:06Okay. November 15th, 2025.
- 21:08Pearson reaches out because apex called them on her behalf.
- 21:13So this is the one positive thing that apex did.
- 21:18I don't know why they didn't do more positive things. It would have been wonderful. They
- 21:21could have been the hero of this. Thank you, apex.
- 21:24If only we could have worked together like this from the beginning, I believe, was your
- 21:28response. That's right.
- 21:30On November 18th, 2025 five questions were put to Pearson about why this happened.
- 21:37Were there sanctioned.
- 21:40All descriptions available for these diagrams.
- 21:43Yes or no? We just could not get a yes or no to that question.
- 21:47And I see now why. Because we were asking Pearson.
- 21:50And they're never going to answer that properly.
- 21:53But we now know that they should have.
- 21:56So we put five questions to them.
- 21:57We got five Non-answers.
- 21:59The best question that she asked was why was I unable to test and
- 22:03they would not answer her.
- 22:05Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Well, I frankly, I was shocked at their request.
- 22:10And it wasn't a request.
- 22:12It was a demand. And I felt as if I was being pushed.
- 22:16You were you were.
- 22:17Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: I still wonder what that meeting.
- 22:19And by the way, listeners, that meeting never took place because we.
- 22:22Yeah, we'll get into why we denied it.
- 22:24But I, I think we know even after the second time when you did meet with them it turned
- 22:29out to be the very same thing. And it was just coercion,
- 22:32you know, take down what you've said about us,
- 22:34change your story. And that's, that's just not.
- 22:38I don't know why they think you would do that. Especially you.
- 22:40I mean, if they just did a quick Google search, I think they'd know who you are.
- 22:44Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I don't think I kind of thought they felt this little Canadian lady,
- 22:49you know, we'll push her into a corner and she'll just,
- 22:51you know, do as we ask.
- 22:52Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Well, isn't that what they did with all of the people that contacted you and
- 22:56said they had the same issue?
- 22:57Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah, yeah.
- 22:58Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: It's not. They push you anywhere. They just leave you there. Yeah.
- 23:01There's no one to contact. There's no one to talk to. There's no. What did they do? They.
- 23:05And you know what they'll say? We didn't do anything. That's exactly what you did. You
- 23:07didn't do anything.
- 23:09Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right?
- 23:11Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Exactly. That's right.
- 23:12Okay, so we'll leave on that note.
- 23:14December 8th, 2025, part two of your articles get published.
- 23:20Now, at this point, we had stirred quite a pot with the first article.
- 23:24I think a lot of people were very invested in the Apex program at this point.
- 23:31But I think the first article began to change things.
- 23:34And when the second article came out, I think they realized that this was not going
- 23:38to end. Now, this is the point, generally where a mainstream company or PR
- 23:43firm would bring outside help in to help fix this.
- 23:48They did not do that. Katie McAuliffe and her legal staff continued to answer emails
- 23:55themselves. Same day she emails the Cnib, asks them to read her articles.
- 24:01Okay, so on December 8th, 2025, you emailed the Cnib and asked them to
- 24:07read your articles. You want to talk about that before we continue?
- 24:11Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yes. I kind of thought, well, I got nothing to lose here.
- 24:15And the Cnib is one of the main players re advocacy in Canada.
- 24:21I have a good relationship with them.
- 24:23And I thought, you know, I'm going to stir the pot a bit and see what
- 24:27happens. So, you know, I decided.
- 24:28Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: I'm sorry I didn't think of it. Frankly. It's a great idea.
- 24:32It's a great idea. Yeah.
- 24:33Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: And they responded right away.
- 24:35Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: They did. They did. Cnib reads them, writes a letter to Pearson themselves,
- 24:40and asks her permission to send it, which we thought was awesome.
- 24:43This is the first real assistance that we had received and it was very exciting and
- 24:48sincerest thanks to the Cnib for all of their efforts on our behalf.
- 24:53December 12th, 2025 Cnib s letter goes to Pearson Vue on our approval December 15 to
- 25:0016. Pearson's tone changes.
- 25:02Isn't that interesting?
- 25:04Genuine retest options are provided and Donna agrees to sit the test again.
- 25:10Now I ask you if you're listening at this point,
- 25:13would you sit the test again?
- 25:15I just want you to sit with that. Just think about it. You don't have to answer. Both
- 25:19certifications were in her scholarship, so she asks apex for the Security Plus
- 25:24curriculum as well. And guess what happens at that point?
- 25:27I'll let Donna tell you what happens when she asks for the Security Plus curriculum.
- 25:32What happens? Donna?
- 25:33Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Well, I was told, you know, your scholarship is no longer available.
- 25:39Those were their words.
- 25:40Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: No longer available. Not that it's been revoked.
- 25:43Not that we've removed it for saying honest things about us,
- 25:46just that it is no longer available.
- 25:49Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: That's right. So then I which.
- 25:52Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Begs the question.
- 25:53Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah.
- 25:54Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Which begs the question, why is my scholarship no longer available?
- 26:00And what did they say when you asked that question?
- 26:03Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Because of the article that was published.
- 26:06Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: They literally admitted it in an email said because of the article you published. And
- 26:09their exact quote was, you've made us the enemy.
- 26:13Now I ask you if you're listening so far, I don't like the word enemy,
- 26:17but take a look at what's going on here.
- 26:19Okay? Take a look at what Donna is trying to do.
- 26:22She's attempting to get a degree that any sighted person would have walked out of
- 26:25Pearson with that day.
- 26:27And we're still here and they still say things like this.
- 26:31So at this point, I think they become weapons.
- 26:34That's my that's my personal view.
- 26:36Okay. January 13th, 2026.
- 26:39Katie McAuliffe, VP of operations CC Counsel Emmi Savinelli says the scholarship is no
- 26:44longer available. So this is direct copied to her attorney.
- 26:49I don't understand this position at all, but this is literally how open people can be
- 26:56about you being honest about true public journalism,
- 26:59about saying what really happens to you, whether you're,
- 27:02you know, whether it's accessible or whether you slipped on the floor or they're out there
- 27:07to make sure that you don't tell the truth.
- 27:10And I hope that's what everyone takes away from today.
- 27:14Apex cancels its top tech tidbits sponsorship after I publicly back her.
- 27:18This happened a few days later.
- 27:22I run a newsletter called Top Tech Tidbits.
- 27:24We have sponsors that keep that newsletter funded.
- 27:28Apex was a sponsor of Top Tech tidbits prior to any of this happening.
- 27:33And we had great reviews of them and people loved them and everything was great about
- 27:38them. And this is why I was so very happy when Donna received the scholarship,
- 27:42because I thought these good vibes were going to be transferred on to her,
- 27:46and instead we were treated to this.
- 27:49So, you know, I do understand it, but again,
- 27:51publicly you claim to support blind and low vision persons.
- 27:56You claim to support disability, but the moment the truth is exposed,
- 28:01rather than fixing that and making that what those people need,
- 28:05you simply pull your funding.
- 28:08Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: That's true. That's what they did.
- 28:10Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: So that's, that's what they do. Honestly, Donna, that's what they do. But okay.
- 28:15On Archie's advice, Donna writes, asking why silence and then a meeting
- 28:20request. Now you want to talk about arch and what arch is and how they help you.
- 28:25Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Arch is I don't really know what it stands for,
- 28:29but it's called the Arch Disability Law Centre of Toronto,
- 28:33and they take on very interesting cases dealing with
- 28:39human rights, dealing with.
- 28:40Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Accessibility and sometimes pro
- 28:42bono. If the case.
- 28:43Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Most times it's pro bono.
- 28:45Okay. So they decided, I decided to ask for their advice,
- 28:50and they told me, write a letter to them asking for clarification and that.
- 28:54Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: In other words, why is my scholarship no longer available?
- 28:57Yeah, that's the question that we're going to ask. Okay. Yeah.
- 29:00Okay. Before February 3rd, Cnib steps up again,
- 29:03connects her straight to CompTIA, who grants her a full security plus credit.
- 29:08So now, mind you, at this point, apex took apex taketh away,
- 29:13and CompTIA giveth.
- 29:15Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: That's right.
- 29:16Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Which was very nice. Okay, so now we've got CompTIA.
- 29:19Okay. Obviously doing the right thing and apex continuing to do the wrong thing.
- 29:26February 3rd, 2026. The call.
- 29:29You decided to take a call with them.
- 29:32They wanted to meet with Donna and I initially.
- 29:36Together and I was. And I agreed to that call.
- 29:38I said fine. We had an argument over who was going to set up the call because whoever set
- 29:44up the call would own the recording.
- 29:46And I spoke with my legal counsel and Donna spoke with her legal counsel.
- 29:50And we agreed that we wanted to own the recording if we were going to have the
- 29:53meeting. It was our hope that this would prevent them from attempting to bully us or
- 29:59make us take down any further articles or anything.
- 30:02You know, we just thought if you're being recorded, you're going to be as honest as you
- 30:05can be. That was our thought. So we requested that.
- 30:08And with some dissatisfaction, we got that accommodation and they said,
- 30:12sure, you can own the recording.
- 30:14Okay. So we go ahead and we attempt to set up that meeting.
- 30:18And the very first thing that Katie McAuliffe says to us is please provide us with an
- 30:22agenda for the meeting.
- 30:24Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: That's very true.
- 30:25Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: And I said, no. And Donna and I sat with that.
- 30:28You know, we sat and we you and I talked about that.
- 30:31And we we have no agenda.
- 30:34There's we don't have an agenda.
- 30:36We all all Donna did was write about her experience.
- 30:38What Donna would like is your assistance in getting a cyber security degree.
- 30:42Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: That's right.
- 30:43Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: You know, so not sure what we were supposed to talk about.
- 30:46We were rather offended, and we just felt like we were going to waste
- 30:48time with them trying to coerce us, even on a recording.
- 30:52So I decided, I advised her that I wasn't going to take the call,
- 30:55and I didn't think she should either.
- 30:58Donna, however, being who she is, decided to take the call anyway.
- 31:02Which is which is which is fine.
- 31:05That that's exactly her right.
- 31:06Unfortunately, it went as we thought it would go,
- 31:09but yes, it was valuable because it proved it.
- 31:13And it taught me a lesson that you should go through with things even when you know,
- 31:17they're sabotage. And that's odd to me.
- 31:20But again, advocacy lesson of this podcast.
- 31:23So the call opening question when, Donna, what's on your agenda today?
- 31:28That's the first thing they asked you. What is your agenda today?
- 31:33And your reply was, I actually felt sick.
- 31:36And then they said, yes, Donna, we cancelled your scholarship because
- 31:39of the articles that you wrote about us.
- 31:41You've made us the enemy.
- 31:43That's an exact quote.
- 31:45I'm going to read that again. Yes, Donna, we cancelled your scholarship because
- 31:48of the articles that you wrote about us. You've made us the enemy.
- 31:52I was just I was appalled that not only that,
- 31:54they they said that, but that they thought that that we are trying to make them the.
- 31:59I don't know how you and I are profiting off this in any way whatsoever.
- 32:02It's cost you a great deal.
- 32:04I know it's cost me a great deal.
- 32:06I'm really not sure how we're benefiting from this whole thing.
- 32:09She withholds the credit until the very end of the call.
- 32:13You want to talk about that?
- 32:15Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh, indeed.
- 32:16Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Oh, indeed.
- 32:17Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: You know, so after saying, you know, like it's not available,
- 32:21but we will pay for your your, your exam if you take it again,
- 32:26I, I ask how much are you going to give to me?
- 32:30And they said, we can only give you 100 USD and the exam cost in
- 32:38scholarship. It cost.
- 32:39Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Three, 95, something.
- 32:40Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Like that. Yeah.
- 32:40Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Yeah.
- 32:41Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: But I made a slip here and I only received 100 CAD,
- 32:47which is less than $50 U.S..
- 32:51Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Sure. Yeah. I got you.
- 32:52Yeah. Yeah. Not not that they cared about any of those fees to begin with.
- 32:57That's okay. Oh but you withheld the the news about CompTIA giving you a credit.
- 33:02How did they respond when you told them that?
- 33:04Was there any shift in their posture?
- 33:07Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh, they took credit for what CompTIA was offering me.
- 33:10They said, oh, we spoke to them and I sat there thinking,
- 33:13you you're lying. You're not being honest.
- 33:16You did nothing.
- 33:18Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: I don't think they did.
- 33:19Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Personally, I don't think they did.
- 33:21Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: I don't think they did. Well, on February 22nd,
- 33:242026, Donna publishes part three.
- 33:28And part three has a subtitle.
- 33:30Apex does not care about blind people.
- 33:34Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I can only tell you how horrified I was at all of this.
- 33:38I didn't think that these guys.
- 33:40I thought they were reputable people, but I was wrong.
- 33:44Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: It was very brutish, wasn't it?
- 33:46Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: It was.
- 33:46Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: I was amazed, frankly.
- 33:49Okay, we move on to act five.
- 33:52The cost and the long wait.
- 33:54March 4th, 2026. Donna writes me.
- 33:57Pearson is not responding to my request for updates on my scheduling.
- 34:01Am I concerned? A wee bit.
- 34:04March 9th, 2026. We decide to launch a GoFundMe in order to cover the rest of the
- 34:09cost of Donna's exam. Right.
- 34:12And I think we should stop and thank everyone who contributed.
- 34:17I don't think we quite made it, but we definitely made up a couple of hundred
- 34:20dollars that otherwise we would not have had.
- 34:23Sincerest thanks to everyone.
- 34:24Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Thank you everybody. Yeah, yeah.
- 34:26Thank you.
- 34:27Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: April 24th, 2026. Apex practice tests not searchable.
- 34:32Several answers wrong.
- 34:34Many typos. I know you'd love to talk
- 34:35about this part, right?
- 34:37Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Well, you know, you go into the practice test and I know for some,
- 34:43you know, with regard to some of those questions,
- 34:46their answers were not correct.
- 34:49So I checked with my good friend AI and went through chat.
- 34:54Yeah, yeah. And, and they confirmed that what my answers
- 34:58were, were correct.
- 35:00Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Just imagine how difficult this was before the advent of AI and still is for many blind
- 35:05people who don't use AI in that manner or have access to someone sighted who can use AI
- 35:09in that manner, it's still very difficult.
- 35:11You know, those programs are not accessible. There's a lot of copy and paste that is very
- 35:15difficult as a blind person.
- 35:17You know, it's access that many don't have is my point.
- 35:20Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: So I kind of kind of knew, you know what, this is not going to go
- 35:25anywhere, But, you know, call me silly.
- 35:27Call me whatever you. I would persevere and write the exam one more time.
- 35:34Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Which you did using the practice tests that we created rather than the ones that apex
- 35:39provided. So that's correct.
- 35:40May 23rd, 2026. Donna emails me and says her long time Pearson contact has retired,
- 35:48and the replacement insists that all readers can handle diagrams.
- 35:53Now, you have listened to the beginning of this podcast,
- 35:56right? Everyone? Do you remember what happened to Donna the first time she sat for
- 36:00that exam? But the replacement insists all readers can handle diagrams.
- 36:05Okay, she reminds them the last one couldn't and says,
- 36:09I'll let it go, but should we have let it go?
- 36:13I don't know. Okay. In any case, we move on to May 27th,
- 36:182026, the second exam.
- 36:21Now, this is the second time that Donna has sat for this exam,
- 36:24by Andrew. Okay. It is 10 a.m..
- 36:27She is a Pearson Professional Centre, Toronto East.
- 36:29She has 270 minutes and every accommodation has been approved on paper.
- 36:35You want to talk before we go into the details of that day?
- 36:38Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Well, you know, here again, we go in and you know,
- 36:43they read all the pre document.
- 36:47Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: They take your Kleenex again.
- 36:48Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. No, not this time.
- 36:51No no no no no, they didn't, they didn't change bags
- 36:54or anything like that.
- 36:55Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Okay.
- 36:56Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay. You know, along the line they were always friendly,
- 36:59always very proficient at what they were saying and doing.
- 37:03And then I met my reader and she sounded older than the other reader.
- 37:10And so we go into the exam and then comes the big wave when she sits down and opens up the,
- 37:18the exam and off we go.
- 37:20And right away I know.
- 37:22Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Guess what, everyone Yes.
- 37:24Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: What? Nothing has changed.
- 37:27Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Diagrams again. And diagrams are being described by a person who has never seen
- 37:33them before today.
- 37:34Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right. And you don't have a reader and a recorder?
- 37:38The reader is the recorder.
- 37:40Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: You were approved for a reader and a recorder that is recorded in your accommodation.
- 37:44However, they only provided one person and assigned both roles.
- 37:48Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: That's right. So Donna makes up her mind after question to Donna.
- 37:54You're not going to be successful at this exam.
- 37:57Why? It's the same thing over and over again.
- 38:03But I thought, you know.
- 38:04Well silly me. I'll take the bloody exam and just wander.
- 38:08Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Which you did what?
- 38:09Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: You did what you did, and.
- 38:11Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: And then your results certainly were given to you in some type of format that you could
- 38:15read immediately. Right.
- 38:17Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh.
- 38:18Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Well.
- 38:19Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: They printed it off.
- 38:21Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Oh, they printed it. They printed it. Okay.
- 38:23Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I printed it off, handed it to me, and I said,
- 38:25could you tell me what the
- 38:27results are? Well we can't.
- 38:28Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Did I pass, did I not?
- 38:30Could you imagine standing there, people?
- 38:32Okay. Did I pass, did I?
- 38:33And it's standing. It's in your hand, but you can't see it.
- 38:36Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: No. And they say we can't tell you.
- 38:38I said, is it available online?
- 38:41No, it's not online.
- 38:43Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: And they can't tell you.
- 38:44They're not allowed to speak it to you. Wow.
- 38:46Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: No, they did not do that.
- 38:48So I had to wait and go outside with my friend and she read it to me.
- 38:53Okay. And I will tell you, I failed, not by much,
- 38:58but I walked out of there thinking, you know what?
- 39:01I have nothing more to.
- 39:02I don't know what to say.
- 39:04Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: I would just ask you if you're listening at this point,
- 39:08what would you have done?
- 39:09Would you have gone this far?
- 39:11Would you have sat this exam twice?
- 39:16And we're not done yet.
- 39:17Just just mind you, we're we're not done yet.
- 39:19Okay. May 29th, 2026 Donna begins drafting a letter to Pearson and CompTIA.
- 39:27June 24th, 2026. Oh, this is the point where we wrote directly to Todd Thibodeau,
- 39:34CEO of CompTIA. Or at least we thought he was,
- 39:37and Gary Gates Pearson Vue senior people copied on both sides,
- 39:42not a support form. She writes to offer help,
- 39:45not to complain. I'm going to stop and talk about this point here because this was a
- 39:50lesson for me. I got angry people.
- 39:54I don't have a disability myself.
- 39:55Not an official one. I live with a very complex condition.
- 39:59That bothers me daily.
- 40:01But I do not have a certified disability and I cannot,
- 40:05I cannot imagine the anger and the frustration that Donna must have felt.
- 40:10I know that I felt it and I gave up, I stopped,
- 40:13I will say I gave up, I really did, and I should not have.
- 40:16And this is where Donna did not give up.
- 40:18She decided to write to the CEO of.
- 40:21Ceo. We didn't know who we were writing to, frankly. I mean, we did our best to find
- 40:24these contacts. We later learned, I think, that Todd was not the CEO of CompTIA
- 40:28anymore. We'll talk about that in a minute. But we basically gathered these emails and,
- 40:33and tried to speak to as many people as we possibly could.
- 40:37Just giving them links to the articles that we've written, what Donna has been through
- 40:42etc.. And this is what I should have supported her in doing and I did not.
- 40:47So if you want to be an advocate, this is the point where you learn the lesson
- 40:51that never give up means never.
- 40:57Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Absolutely true. But you know what?
- 40:59I have lived all my life as an advocate.
- 41:02Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: I know.
- 41:03Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I know, and I think for you.
- 41:05Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: It's a wonderful lesson for me, Donna. It really is.
- 41:07I, I applaud you for writing that email.
- 41:09I thought, oh my God, here she goes.
- 41:10She's going to get her heart broken again, you know?
- 41:14So at what? When is she going to give up?
- 41:17Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: No no no no more.
- 41:19Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Never never no, I, I and I'm glad you didn't because here's what happened people.
- 41:23July 9th, 2026. Comptia replies.
- 41:26Yeah and drops it. Network plus is available in a Jaws compatible format designed for
- 41:32independent completion.
- 41:34I'm sorry. Just in case you didn't hear that,
- 41:37Network Plus is available in a Jaws compatible format designed for independent
- 41:43completion. No human reader needed, end quote.
- 41:47Wow. Wow. I think it was.
- 41:50I think there was a guy named Aaron that said something a couple of years ago that that had
- 41:53to exist. I don't know who that guy was.
- 41:56They asked two questions.
- 41:57Your reaction? I told you so, I knew it.
- 42:00I was very happy to hear that this existed.
- 42:03I don't know why it was not provided to Donna or presented,
- 42:06but amazing nonetheless.
- 42:09July 27th, 2026. Donna answers both in full and confirms that she was never denied jaws.
- 42:16Now, this was an important distinction that we had to make.
- 42:20She wasn't. She argued back and forth quite a bit about it.
- 42:23In fact and the deciding factor for Donna was that there would be no technician on site
- 42:29that day. And she had issues in the past with her law degree with jaws.
- 42:34Taking it with jaws and there being no technician on site,
- 42:37they had to call someone and then she had to come back and test a different day.
- 42:42Anyone who has sat for one of these tests know the commitment that it takes,
- 42:46the mental commitment and the preparation, and it's not something that you really want
- 42:50to do more than once, if you can help it.
- 42:53You confirmed that you were never denied jaws,
- 42:55but that you were steered away from it. You want to talk about that?
- 42:58Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yes. What happened? They, you know, they strongly recommended that we I
- 43:04use one of their readers to do it.
- 43:06They never came out right.
- 43:08And said that jaws that that the exam was available in an accessible format by using
- 43:15jaws never, ever said that.
- 43:18So that was a shocker to me.
- 43:19Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: I arrived at Adana purely out of logistics.
- 43:23I, I, I just assumed that from the top, if you,
- 43:26you know, CompTIA being the large at the time we thought not nonprofit organization that
- 43:32they were maybe that was our assumption that they would have to provide this type of
- 43:40formatting for diagrams specifically.
- 43:43I just, I don't know how you could possibly sell a test and call it accessible if you
- 43:47don't. And it's just interesting that it wasn't that they weren't available.
- 43:51It was simply that for whatever reason, Pearson was not using them or did not want to
- 43:57steer you toward it for some reason.
- 43:59Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah, absolutely, I agree.
- 44:01Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Okay, so July 28th, 2026 Comptia's entire reply.
- 44:06Thank you for your helpful feedback.
- 44:08We will look into this CompTIA legal.
- 44:12Now I just want to mention that that ends CompTIA Legal.
- 44:15So this is the legal team for CompTIA that reached out to us,
- 44:19not the CEO or anyone that we actually reached out to.
- 44:23But it yeah, it seems to have fallen to CompTIA legal team.
- 44:27And there's a bit about that at the end.
- 44:29You said to me on that day, I'm not going to hold my breath.
- 44:33Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: That's right. I'm not going.
- 44:34Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: No, no. At this point, I don't think anyone would expect you to.
- 44:39All right. Let's talk about where all of this lands right now.
- 44:45And some things that we might want to look back at that you and I didn't realize at the
- 44:49time. Today the Apex program now trades as Access Cyber LLC,
- 44:56part of enterprise KC and Nova Coast is no longer named anywhere on the site.
- 45:03Now. Yeah, we can take that for what it's worth.
- 45:06It's site today promises the following quote built from the ground up to be accessible
- 45:10first 247365 access to expert guidance and An instructor in 24 hours or less.
- 45:18How's that sound? Donna, would you like to be a part of that
- 45:21program? It sounds kind of.
- 45:23Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Sounds.
- 45:24Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Nice.
- 45:24Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Doesn't it? I don't think so.
- 45:26I mean, like what? First of all, why were they sold by Nova
- 45:30Coast to this other.
- 45:31Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Well, we don't know. We can speculate all we want. And who knows?
- 45:36I think from the background that you and I got,
- 45:38I don't think they had any idea what they were doing trying to assist blind people,
- 45:43frankly. For whatever reason they took on the project,
- 45:47they did not put someone in charge who knows and understands the needs of a blind person,
- 45:53even if someone on that team was
- 45:55blind. God forbid.
- 45:56Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah, I.
- 45:57Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Agree. So, so very, very difficult there.
- 46:01The last portion of this that makes this interesting. I think,
- 46:05I don't think it's had anything to do with it,
- 46:07but it's something I want to mention. Comptia certification business is owned by H.i.g.
- 46:11Capital and Thoma Bravo.
- 46:15Now, we didn't know that and that actually took place.
- 46:19Believe it or not. On November 4th, 2024, which was yeah,
- 46:26just a few weeks, three weeks before you were given your scholarship.
- 46:30So CompTIA, up until three weeks before you were given your scholarship was not a for
- 46:36profit structure, as I understand it.
- 46:38Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay.
- 46:39Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: But it became one. Now, how that affects us today and perhaps why
- 46:44we're hearing back from CompTIA Legal instead of the actual CEO,
- 46:48etc. that might shed some light on that.
- 46:52Who knows? But this leaves us.
- 46:56Where does this leave us, Donna?
- 46:59Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh God help us, I don't.
- 47:01Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Where does this where does.
- 47:02Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: This.
- 47:03Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Leave us? I get you. You have to answer that.
- 47:05Where does this leave you?
- 47:06I guess I should say I know that article number four is going to come out,
- 47:10which is going to explain everything up to this point.
- 47:14Yeah, but with you now waiting for CompTIA Legal to get back to you,
- 47:18what are your honest thoughts?
- 47:19Would you ever sit a third time?
- 47:24Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I don't think so. I mean, I, I, as I said to them in my letter,
- 47:29this is a marvelous way to open up new career opportunities.
- 47:33And that's this is what had interest in me.
- 47:36I also thought we could bring this program to Canada,
- 47:39but it has drained me.
- 47:41Honestly, I don't know if I have the energy.
- 47:45I don't know if I have any respect.
- 47:47Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: I don't know if I would recommend that you do.
- 47:50Frankly, I, I just don't see any way that.
- 47:54What are they? Maybe they come back with Donna. Here's a certificate.
- 47:57We assure you all will be well this time.
- 47:59And no offense. That's what they said the second time. Yeah.
- 48:02How many how many times should we believe that they will fix the process so that you
- 48:07can test excessively? You know.
- 48:10Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I don't know. I mean, like, I'm not really prepared to to battle
- 48:15anybody anymore. Not in this case.
- 48:18I just think we've done the best we can.
- 48:21Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: So why then should we get on this podcast today and regale people with this wonderful
- 48:27tale of accessibility?
- 48:29What's the point then? What did we get out of this,
- 48:31Donna? What did we what did we learn and what did we provide to others?
- 48:36You you said something along the line of, I am not the point.
- 48:39I was never the point that blind test takers wrote to you that they had the same
- 48:44experience. Yeah. And that you wanted to use your voice and your advocacy in ways that
- 48:49they could not. And I think that's, that's, that's the point of these four
- 48:54articles. That's the point of this podcast today.
- 48:56That is why I have done a, a reverse grilling of Donna today to give
- 49:01everyone an idea of, of how she felt and what she has gone through during this process and
- 49:06what real advocacy and change looks like.
- 49:10Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Advocacy has a cost to it, and that is it's a hidden cost.
- 49:14And people don't realize that.
- 49:16Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: And it's not always progress as you would measure it.
- 49:19No, no. Sometimes it's just for articles and a terrible situation that you put out there.
- 49:24But the next blind person that goes to take a test or has a problem with Pearson or
- 49:29searches online and, and sees what you went through,
- 49:34I think it will change their experience.
- 49:36Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I hope it does. I hope that we have done something here that will benefit
- 49:42anybody going.
- 49:43Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Amen.
- 49:44Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Or it may turn them away.
- 49:48Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: It may. What I would love to see, I would love to see Pearson,
- 49:52CompTIA and such programs, whether they are targeted towards blind
- 49:56people or not, come together to take accessibility seriously.
- 50:00The entire process, not just to the end of your organization,
- 50:04but throughout the end of the experience for the user.
- 50:08Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I agree, but will it be
- 50:10done? I don't.
- 50:11Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Know. I doubt it. Donna, I.
- 50:13Frankly, I doubt it. And how to get it done outside of funding it yourself.
- 50:18If I knew the answer to that.
- 50:19Well, the world would be a different place.
- 50:22Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: And I'm not prepared to put any more of my own personal funds into this.
- 50:26Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: I don't blame you, Donna.
- 50:27Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: No, I'm not willing. No.
- 50:31Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: So if anyone listening today has any questions about this or any other aspects of
- 50:37this process that we went through, please reach out to Donna.
- 50:40Feel free to do so. I'm sure she'll be happy to respond.
- 50:44And thank you so much for your time and energy today.
- 50:48Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Quite a journey, Aaron.
- 50:50Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Quite a journey, Miss Donna.
- 50:54Podcast Commentator: Donna wants to hear from you and invites you to write to her at donnajodhan@gmail.com.
- 51:01Until next time.