[[!meta title="Accessibility"]]

Tails and the GNOME desktop include assistive technologies to support users with various impairments and special needs, and to interact with common assistive devices.

<h1 id="menu">Accessibility menu</h1>

You can activate several assistive technologies, like a screen reader or large text, from the accessibility menu in the top bar, the

[[!img lib/accessibility.png alt="" class="symbolic" link="no"]]

icon whichthat looks like a person) in the top bar:.

icon that looks like a person.

[[!img desktop/accessibility.png link="no"
alt="Universal Access class="screenshot"
alt="Accessibility menu with the following options, all (disabled
by default): High Contrast, Zoom, Large Text, Screen Reader, Screen Keyboard,
Visual Alters, Sticky Keys, Slow Keys, Bounce Keys, and Mouse Keys"]]

[[!img desktop/accessibility.png link="no" class="screenshot"
alt="Accessibility menu with the following options, all disabled
by default: High Contrast, Zoom, Large Text, Screen Reader, Screen Keyboard,
Visual Alters, Sticky Keys, Slow Keys, Bounce Keys, and Mouse Keys"]]

These technologies are documented in more details in the [GNOME universal access documentationHelp: Accessibility](https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/stable/a11y.html).

These technologies are documented in more details in [GNOME Help: Accessibility](https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/stable/a11y.html).

<h1 id="shortcuts">Keyboard shortcuts</h1>

<table>
<tr><td>Turn screen reader on or off</td><td>Alt+[[!img lib/start.png class="symbolic" link="no" alt="Super"]]+S</td></tr>
<tr><td>Turn zoom on or off</td><td>Alt+[[!img lib/start.png class="symbolic" link="no" alt="Super"]]+8</td></tr>
</table>

<table>
<tr><td>Turn screen reader on or off</td><td>Alt+[[!img lib/start.png class="symbolic" link="no" alt="Super"]]+S</td></tr>
<tr><td>Turn zoom on or off</td><td>Alt+[[!img lib/start.png class="symbolic" link="no" alt="Super"]]+8</td></tr>
</table>

To access the universal accessaccessibility menu using the keyboard:

To access the accessibility menu using the keyboard:

Press <span class="keycap">Ctrl+Alt+Tab</span> to move the keyboard focus to the top bar.

Use the arrow keys on the keyboard to select the universal accessaccessibility menu.

Use the arrow keys on the keyboard to select the accessibility menu.

Press <span class="bold">Enter</span> to open the menu.

Use the up and down arrow keys to select items in the menu.

Press <span class="bold">Space</span> to toggle the selected item.

Press <span class="bold">Esc</span> to close the menu.

<h1 id="reader">Screen reader</h1>

To hear screen elements spoken to you, turn on the **Screen Reader** from the
accessibility menu ([[!img lib/accessibility.png alt=""
class="symbolic" link="no"]]).

[GNOME Help: *Orca* Screen Reader](https://help.gnome.org/users/orca/stable/)