Learn about the accessibility settings available in System Preferences

One of the best things about computers is that they sometimes have the potential to be a great equalizer, with technology assisting people to do things they otherwise wouldn’t be able to. With this concept in mind, it’s easy to think about doing something creative or fantastical. But often, equalization through technology can be about more mundane tasks: reading web pages, writing text, opening documents and so on.

Lion offers lots of options for aiding accessibility.

Tasks many people take for granted on their Macs aren’t necessarily so simple for someone who has problems with sight, hearing, mobility or motor functions. However, Apple has long been an advocate of accessibility, right from the days of the Apple II (see Austin Seraphin’s Behind the Curtain blog for interesting tales about how well Apple kit works for blind users, for example); OS X Lion is no exception, providing many settings for fine-tuning how a Mac works from an accessibility standpoint.

The options we showcase on the following page are housed in the Universal Access pane of System Preferences (found in the Personal section), and grouped into tabs named Seeing, Hearing, Keyboard, and Mouse Trackpad. Our aim in this walkthrough is to give you a basic grounding regarding the various options and their capabilities. That way, you should be able to tweak a Mac’s setup to better suit yourself or someone who might require help with the functionality Universal Access provides. It’s also worth noting that many accessibility features can be useful for everyone. Reversing the display can help reduce eyestrain, for example, and modifiers shown when Sticky Keys is active can help people learn keyboard shortcuts.

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Find Your Way Around Universal Access
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    Access VoiceOver

    VoiceOver provides spoken descriptions of screen items and enables keyboard-based navigation. Turn it on using command+% or the top “On” radio button in the Seeing tab. In the welcome dialog, press [Space] or click Learn VoiceOver to work through a tutorial.

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    Zoom Screen

    Screen zooming is toggled using command+shift+8 and the amount of zoom using command+shift+- and command+shift+=. In the Seeing tab, use Zoom in window to restrict the zoom to a window that follows the cursor; the Options button provides zoom and focus settings.

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    Reverse Display

    The Display section in the Seeing tab enables you to reverse screen colors using White on black (rather than the Black on white default). Click Use grayscale to remove color from the display, and Enhance contrast to adjust contrast settings.

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    Flash Alerts

    In the Hearing tab, check Flash the screen when an alert sound occurs and the screen will briefly flash white during an alert – (test it by clicking the Flash Screen button). This setting’s also useful for anyone who’s working at night with the Mac’s audio off.

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    Discover Sticky Keys

    Sticky Keys helps if you find it hard to press multiple keys simultaneously. The feature’s activated in the Keyboard tab and enables keyboard shortcuts to be defined in sequence, one key at a time, rather than by holding down all the keys at once.

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    Work with Slow Keys

    In the same tab, Slow Keys is a feature designed for people who have difficulty with repeated keystrokes. You use the Acceptance Delay slider to define the time it takes for a key to be accepted. Check Use click key sounds to add sound effects that provide feedback.

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    Use Mouse Keys

    In Mouse Trackpad, Mouse Keys lets you control the cursor via the keyboard. The number pad is used on extended keyboards; otherwise 8, 9, O, L, K, J, U, and 7 are for movement, I is for a mouse click, and M and . for hold/release of the mouse button.

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    Increase the Cursor Size

    At the bottom of the Mouse Trackpad tab is a slider that enables you to adjust the cursor size. This is great for people with vision problems, but it’s also quite handy for anyone with a big display who regularly “loses” the cursor. Note: some zoomed cursors are blurry.

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    Quick Tip

    If you use a number of Universal Access features, track what’s active using the menu bar item. You can turn it on by checking Show Universal Access status in the menu bar (found at the bottom-left of the System Preferences pane).

Article source: http://www.maclife.com/article/gallery/how_make_your_mac_accessible