Thanks. Just got to think how I progressed now. I’m currently working freelance in a tech related field but nothing to do with cyber security ornetworking. If the material is accessible and so on I do like studying and learning more stuff. Strings to the bow and all that. Cheers Chris Turner Sent from mobile.

On 7 Jan 2026, at 16:23, Billy Irwin <billy.irwin@outlook.com> wrote:

Greetings,

Congratulations!!! I am about to do most of the CompTIA classes myself. So, this gives me some hope. They are a part of my B.S. degree.

Thanks for sharing your experience!

Best,

Billy L. Irwin - K9oh

-----Original Message----- From: Chris Turner via Blind-sysadmins <blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org> Sent: Wednesday, January 7, 2026 8:32 AM To: 'Blind sysadmins list' <blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org> Cc: Chris Turner <ultimatethesecond@googlemail.com> Subject: [Blind-sysadmins] Experience with taking Comptia test online with PearsonVUE

HI all.

I said I'd get back regarding this.

I've just passed the Comptia Security+ exam online with Pearson VUE. Woo!

I won't talk about the questions, obviously. However, a couple of observations on the test process from a Windows screenreader user PoV.

Firstly, once you have accomidations granted, you have to do a system test. This checks network bandwidth, camera, microphone, sound and some security aspects. You may need to disable or uninstall Dropbox for example.

I did need help with Aira over a remote call, just to check I was visible in the camera view. This was several weeks ago when accomodations were granted.

On the day itself, when you check in to the exam, you do another system test, which is now logged against your ID. I did not use Aira at this time.

System passed. You then wait for the proctor to do what ever it is they need to check there end. Make sure you have valid photo ID in case you need to show it.

There was quite a delay between checking in and the exam starting. I was getting a bit worried but message on screen says it can start after your appointment time. Eventually the proctor spoke to me and the screen updated so I could proceed.

The exam itself was almost entirely accessible. The one bit that wasn't, some text, a fragment of a log, was not read out. I had to used JAWS OCR to access this text. I did not experience any questions with diagrams but this could be possible I suppose too.

The rest of it was fine, with standard form controls and no gotyas.

Anyway would use again. I'm interested in looking at perhaps trying the penitration cert or Linux cert.

Regards

Chris

-- My stuff.

Dreams of Tharsis: Metal, industrial, synth metal, instrumentals. dreamsoftharsis.bandcamp.com

LostDroid: Electro, synthwave, soundscapes. lostdroid.bandcamp.com

On Spotify, Apple Music, all the usual places...

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Thanks Andrew. Yep it is.  I'll have a look around over the weekend to see if I can report the issue. I did flag it and mentioned in a chat message with the proctor at the time but expect that isn't logged or goes any where. Shame the Cisco stuff is not online, I didn't know that. I was idly wondering whether to give those another go. It was many years back I last tried at in person test centre. It is certainly a frustrating fact that many of these exams are unavailable to us access tech users. As this list attests, you only need to give us a way to study the material and take the test in an accessible way. Then we might actually see the employment rate of blind people improve. Course gaining experience is a major issue in that regard but in the first instance blind people can be put off even trying to become qualified in areas of interest if the test process is significantly inaccessible. Please do post updates if you go for more certs. Cheers. Chris On 08/01/26 00:20, Andrew Hodgson via Blind-sysadmins wrote:

Hi.

Congratulations on your certification. It's a really good feeling isn't it, especially when you've done it using the assistive tech?

If you can I would try and report that issue you got with the logs not reading. Its possible for diagrams to be described and I've seen this a lot with the Microsoft exams so if that hasn't happened and you relied on an external process that needs reporting somehow.

I'm not sure what other exams are accessible using this platform. Last time I checked the Cisco exams weren't available. I suspect this is because of the use of simulations. I need to get my head into gear with more exams this year so might try some alternative platforms that aren't Microsoft to broaden my experience. I know the Hashicorp exams are accessible and don't run through the Pearson platform so will probably get those out of the way to begin with.

Andrew.

-----Original Message----- From: Chris Turner via Blind-sysadmins <blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org> Sent: 07 January 2026 13:32 To: 'Blind sysadmins list' <blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org> Cc: Chris Turner <ultimatethesecond@googlemail.com> Subject: [Blind-sysadmins] Experience with taking Comptia test online with PearsonVUE

HI all.

I said I'd get back regarding this.

I've just passed the Comptia Security+ exam online with Pearson VUE. Woo!

I won't talk about the questions, obviously. However, a couple of observations on the test process from a Windows screenreader user PoV.

Firstly, once you have accomidations granted, you have to do a system test. This checks network bandwidth, camera, microphone, sound and some security aspects. You may need to disable or uninstall Dropbox for example.

I did need help with Aira over a remote call, just to check I was visible in the camera view. This was several weeks ago when accomodations were granted.

On the day itself, when you check in to the exam, you do another system test, which is now logged against your ID. I did not use Aira at this time.

System passed. You then wait for the proctor to do what ever it is they need to check there end. Make sure you have valid photo ID in case you need to show it.

There was quite a delay between checking in and the exam starting. I was getting a bit worried but message on screen says it can start after your appointment time. Eventually the proctor spoke to me and the screen updated so I could proceed.

The exam itself was almost entirely accessible. The one bit that wasn't, some text, a fragment of a log, was not read out. I had to used JAWS OCR to access this text. I did not experience any questions with diagrams but this could be possible I suppose too.

The rest of it was fine, with standard form controls and no gotyas.

Anyway would use again. I'm interested in looking at perhaps trying the penitration cert or Linux cert.

Regards

Chris

-- My stuff. Dreams of Tharsis: Metal, industrial, synth metal, instrumentals. dreamsoftharsis.bandcamp.com LostDroid: Electro, synthwave, soundscapes. lostdroid.bandcamp.com On Spotify, Apple Music, all the usual places...