1. Press Option + Command + F5 to open Accessibility shortcut panel.
2. You are presented with options to quickly turn on various accessibility options.
3. You can navigate to settings by clicking the “Settings” button.

Hover Text enlarges text under the mouse pointer with the command key.

1. System Settings > Accessibility > Zoom
2. Toggle “Hover Text” to turn on.
3. Now, when your mouse cursor is above any text, you can press the command key to view a larger version of that text.
4. Additionally, you can press the “i” button next to the toggle to adjust various options like text size, font, where it is displayed, trigger button, and colors.

1. Press the Option + Command + “+” (Plus key) to zoom in.
2. Press the Option + Command + “-” (Minus key) to zoom out.

Change the size of the mouse pointer for better visibility.

1. System Settings > Accessibility > Display > Pointer
2. Adjust the slider next to the “Pointer size” heading.
3. Select the boxes next to “Pointer outline color” and “Pointer fill color” to change the color of each.

If you lose where the mouse pointer is on the screen, gently shake the mouse to briefly increase its size to help you find it.

1. System Settings > Accessibility > Display > Pointer
2. Toggle “Shake mouse pointer to locate” to turn on.

Change various display aspects and visual effects in macOS to create a better experience.

1. System Settings > Accessibility > Display > Display
2. You can toggle different Display options to fit your preferences:
   • “Invert colors” inverts all colors in the display to their opposite color.        
     • You can choose to invert colors everywhere except in photos and images (Smart), or invert colors everywhere (Classic).
   • “Reduce motion reduces the movement of elements on the screen (opening apps, switching desktops, etc.).
   • “Dim flashing lights” automatically dims content that depicts flashing or strobing lights.
   • “Increase contrast” increases the contrast of items currently on the screen.
   • “Differentiate without color” uses shapes to convey status or information.
   • “Show window title icons” shows a window’s icon (if available) in the window’s title bar.
   • “Show toolbar button shapes” shows a subtle border around toolbar buttons to show the area to click when selecting a toolbar button.
   • “Menu bar size” set the font size in the menu bar to Large or back to Default.
   • “Display contrast” increases or decreases the contrast in the display.

Apply a color filter over your screen that helps with low vision or color blindness.

1. System Settings > Accessibility > Display > Color Filters
2. Toggle “Color filters” to turn on.
3. Choose filter type from the dropdown menu for color filter:
   • Colorblindness options include Red-green (green weak, deuteranopia), Red-green (red weak, protanopia), or Blue-yellow (tritanopia).
   • Grayscale.
   • Invert colors with the Inverted option.

Replace the light background color system display with a darker display. The taskbar, windows, and other display aspects will change to a dark-gray color. This can help reduce eyestrain and fatigue.

1. System Settings > Appearance
2. Choose “Dark” in the Appearance section.

Sets your macOS to have a stronger contrast between background and text.

1. System Settings > Accessibility > Display 
2. Toggle “Increase contrast” to turn on.

Night Shift reduces the blue light emitted from the computer screen. Reducing blue light may reduce eye strain when used in dimly lit or dark environments.

• System Settings > Displays
• Click on the “Night Shift…” button.
• You can choose to turn on Night Shift or set a schedule to turn on at certain times.
• You can change the color temperature to reduce even more blue light.
• Additionally, you can toggle night shift by going to Control Center > Display > Night Shift

VoiceOver is the built-in macOS screen reader that is designed to support individuals who are blind or who have limited vision to use your Mac without the use of a mouse. It reads and interacts with things on the screen, like text, buttons, and images.

1. System Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver
2. Toggle “VoiceOver” to turn on.
3. The “Open VoiceOver Training…” button brings you to a step-by-step training overview of the VoiceOver screen reader.
4. The “Open VoiceOver Utility…” button brings you too the VoiceOver Utility screen which allows you to change various settings for the screen reader:
   • Verbosity
   • Speech language, voice, and rate
   • Navigation
   • Sounds
   • Visuals
   • Commands
   • Braille output
   • and more

Apple Support offers an extensive overview of VoiceOver in the VoiceOver User Guide.

Use the Tab key and other keys to navigate the screen. Useful for blind and low vision users who may use a screen reader.

1. System Settings > Accessibility > Motor > Keyboard
2. Toggle “Full Keyboard Access” to turn on.
3. Click on the “Keyboard settings…” button to adjust more settings.

Keyboard shortcuts are keys or combinations of keys that provide an alternative way to do something that you’d typically do with a mouse. 

Please see the following article from Apple Support to get an overview of keyboard shortcuts:

Mac keyboard shortcuts

Mono audio combines the left and right audio channels and plays them in both ears. This is useful for individuals who have better hearing in one ear.

1. System Settings > Accessibility > Hearing > Audio
2. Toggle “Play stereo audio as mono” to turn on.

You can choose receive visual alerts when a notification is received.

1. System Settings > Accessibility > Hearing > Audio
2. Toggle “Flash the screen when an alert sound occurs” to turn on.

With Live Captions, you can get real-time captioning of audio—allowing you to easily follow the audio in any app and in live conversations around you.

Note: Live captions are only available on Mac computers with Apple silicon chips. Older computer with Intel chips will not have live captioning options through macOS.

1. System Settings > Accessibility > Hearing > Live Captions
2. Toggle “Live captions” to turn on.

Closed captioning provides text for spoken words and sounds in videos. Closed captioning in useful for those who are Deaf or hard of hearing, or even if you are in a noisy environment and cannot hear audio.

1. System Settings > Accessibility > Hearing > Captions
2. Use the “Caption style” dropdown menu to choose a default caption style.
3. Choose between different default settings like transparent background, or large text.
4. Create your own setting by clicking on the “+” button.
   • Adjust background color and opacity.
   • Choose text color, size, font, opacity, edges, highlight color, and highlight opacity.
5. “Prefer closed captions and SDH” uses closed captions or subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing (SDH) instead of standard subtitles for content played on your Mac.

Dictate text and speak commands to edit text, navigate the desktop and apps, and control your Mac, performing tasks such as scrolling in a document or pressing a button. Voice Control is always listening for commands so there is no need to get its attention—just say a command.

1. System Settings > Accessibility > Motor > Voice Control
2. Toggle “Voice control” to turn on.
3. Change the language with the “Language” dropdown.
4. Change which microphone you are using with the “Microphone” dropdown.
5. Choose to have an overlay, show hints, and play a sound when a command is recognized.

For more detailed information, please see the following article from Apple Support: Control your Mac and apps using Voice Control

Dictation allows you to speak what you want to type rather than using the keyboard. To use voice typing, you will need to be connected to the internet, have a working microphone, and have your cursor in a text box.

1. System Settings > Keyboard > Dictation
2. Toggle “Dictation” to turn on. If a prompt appears, click Enable.
3. Additionally, you can press the Control key twice to enable Dictation.
4. You can also change the language, microphone source, shortcut, and auto-punctuation settings.

For more detailed information, please see the following article from Apple Support: Dictate messages and documents on Mac

Sticky keys enable one handed activation of multi-key combinations.

1. System Settings > Accessibility > Motor > Keyboard
2. Toggle “Sticky keys” to turn on.
3. Additionally, you can adjust more settings for Sticky keys by clicking on the “i” information button next to the “Sticky Keys” toggle:
   • Toggle “Keyboard shortcut for Sticky keys” to be able to press the Shift key five times to toggle the feature on or off, and more.

Adjust the delay between when you press a key and when it is activated.

1. System Settings > Accessibility > Motor > Keyboard
2. Toggle “Slow Keys” to turn on.
3. Additionally, you can adjust more settings for Sticky keys by clicking on the “i” information button next to the “Slow Keys” toggle:
   • Use sounds and set an acceptance delay.

Displays a visual keyboard with all the standard keys, so you can use your mouse or another pointing device to select keys.

1. System Settings > Accessibility > Motor > Keyboard
2. Toggle “On-screen keyboard” to turn on.
3. Additionally, press Windows Key + Ctrl + O (the letter O) to toggle the feature on or off.

Adjust the mouse or trackpad’s reaction time when you make clicks.

1. System Settings > Accessibility > Motor > Pointer Control
2. Use the “Double-click speed” slider to adjust reaction time when you double-click an item.
3. Toggle “Spring-loading” to adjust dragging and dropping. Drag an item to a folder and hold to open the folder.
   • Adjust Spring-loading speed with the slider.

Move your mouse pointer with keyboard keys instead of the mouse.

1. System Settings > Accessibility > Motor > Pointer Control
2. Toggle “Mouse Keys” to move the pointer and press the mouse button using the keyboard or a numeric keypad.

Note: When Mouse Keys is on, you can’t use the keyboard or a numeric keypad to enter text.

Move your pointer using alternative methods other than a mouse like keyboard keys, number pad, or head pointer.

1. System Settings > Accessibility > Motor > Pointer Control
2. Toggle “Alternate pointer actions” to perform clicks and actions using keyboard shortcuts, assistive switches, or facial expressions (such as a smile or an open mouth).
3. Toggle “Head pointer” to move the pointer using the movement of your face or head as detected by the camera that is built into or connected to your Mac.
4. Each option has additional settings that can be adjust by clicking the “i” next to its respective toggle.

With Switch Control, you can use an adaptive device (such as a switch or joystick) to enter text, interact with items on the screen, and control your Mac.

1. System Settings > Accessibility > Motor > Switch Control
2. Toggle “Switch Control” to turn on.
3. Adjust different settings in the Switch Control menu to best fit your needs.

Play sounds in the background to mask unwanted environmental noise which can minimize distractions and help you to focus.

1. System Settings > Accessibility > Audio
2. Toggle “Background sounds” to turn on.
3. Choose which sounds play by clicking on the “Choose…” button next to “Background sound.”
4. “Background sounds volume” adjusts the volume of the background sound.
5. Toggle “Turn of background sounds when your Mac is not in use” to shut off background sounds automatically with lock screen and screen saver modes.

macOS offers various focus settings to silence some or all notification sounds and pop-up alerts. This can help you focus on reading and tasks.

1. Control Center > Focus
2. Click on the “Focus” button.
3. Choose between several “Do Not Disturb” functions.
4. You can set up how Focus functions by clicking the “Focus Settings…” option.
   • You can allow notifications from certain people and apps and set up a Focus schedule.

Text is autocorrected for you as you type.

1. System Settings > Keyboard > Text Input
2. Click the “Edit…” button next to “Input Sources.”
3. Toggle “Correct spelling automatically” to turn on.
4. Additionally, you can toggle “Capitalize words automatically” to automatically capitalize words.