Change System Settings

Changing system or device settings refers to the manual configuration of accessibility features at the operating system level -- such as increasing text contrast, enabling screen magnifiers, turning on voice control, or adjusting keyboard input settings -- to make digital content usable. End-users resort to this when a website, app, or digital product fails to support their needs by default.

Role in the ENABLE Model

In the ENABLE model, this is a navigator-side compensation. It represents a burden shifted to end-users -- one that wouldn't be necessary if builders had adequately considered accessibility during builder-side stages like design, development, and testing. The more steps a user must take to retrofit accessibility for themselves, the greater the inequity.

Why it happens

This compensation emerges from systemic neglect. Developers often assume that a product works “well enough” on the default system settings. But for many disabled users, default settings aren't usable. Rather than encountering inclusive design from the start, users must adapt their own devices just to interact with products others can access effortlessly. That labor -- though invisible to most -- is constant, and cumulative.

Examples

In the news

Apple Announces Accessibility Reader for iOS 19 and macOS 16 (May 2025)
-- Apple Newsroom

• Apple announced a new system-wide Accessibility Reader tool that makes text easier to read for users with low vision or dyslexia across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro. While this system setting reduces the burden of per-app adjustments, it remains a navigator-side compensation -- users wouldn't need system-wide overrides if every app followed accessible design principles from the start.

Elon Musk reverses Twitter dark mode decision after accessibility backlash (July 2023)
-- Dexerto

• After Elon Musk announced X (Twitter) would "soon only have dark mode," the disability community pushed back, noting that light mode is essential for many users with low vision, blindness, or dyslexia. Musk reversed course. This incident illustrates why design decisions must include accessibility from the start -- and why users shouldn't have to rely on system settings to compensate for platform neglect.

Accessibility of User Interfaces, and Video Programming Guides and Menus (August 2024)
-- Federal Register

• The FCC finalized rules requiring covered devices to make closed-caption display settings "readily accessible" so users can adjust fonts, colors, and sizes without navigating obscure menus. This legal protection ensures that when users must change system settings to access content, at least those settings are findable -- shifting some burden back to builders.

• Enabling "high contrast" mode because a website's color scheme fails WCAG standards.
• Increasing text size at the OS level because the app doesn't allow font customization.
• Turning on system-level voice control or sticky keys to navigate apps not keyboard-friendly.
• Using Zoom/Magnifier tools built into the system to view interfaces that lack scalable UI.

Compensation sounds like

“I had to change my entire system theme just to read their website.”
“The site text was tiny with no zoom support, so I bumped up the font size in my system settings.”
“I always have my device in high contrast because designers love pastel text.”
“I switched my device in grayscale just to read their website.”

Burden sounds like

“If I change my settings for one inaccessible app, it messes up how I use everything else.”
“I shouldn't have to modify my computer's settings just to book a doctor's appointment.”
“Now every app looks weird just because one designer didn't test their colors.”

Real-world Scenario

A visually impaired college student struggles to read the online learning platform used by their university. The platform ignores minimum contrast guidelines and uses low-opacity text on a white background. After emailing support with no reply, the student adjusts their operating system to force higher contrast. While this makes the platform legible, it causes all their other apps -- including photo editing tools they use for coursework -- to display inaccurately.

They're caught in a constant cycle of enabling and disabling system settings just to make one inaccessible platform work, draining time and energy meant for learning.