Apple has been promoting the “Universal Access” section in each of its devices for several years now. With it, people with disabilities can take full advantage of Apple technology and be connected to loved ones and the rest of the world, even if they cannot leave their homes. This is a very cool initiative that deserves exceptional praise. Other companies should learn from the Cupertinos how their devices become truly universal and accessible to everyone. Can you imagine that the conditional Xiaomi has the same possibilities? Personally, I don’t.
Although Apple devices have never been affordable, this is the situation when you know that you are overpaying for really cool features. Let’s see how you can control your MacBook with your eyes and head movements.
how to control macbook without mouse
Perhaps you have watched the movie or read the book Me Before You? There, the main character was confined to a wheelchair and could only move his head and one hand. For this situation, Apple has come up with a feature that allows you to move the cursor on the Mac screen using your eyes or head movements. And clicking on the mouse buttons can be done using facial expressions or special keys that you assign yourself.
If earlier people in this position remained practically without communication with the outside world, only TV or phone calls using the speakerphone helped, now you can not only surf the Internet and find what interests you, but also communicate in almost any applications. You can display both the on-screen keyboard and enter text using the cursor, and use voice input, which greatly simplifies the process of entering information.
To be honest, looking at the opportunities that in Cupertino give the buyers of their equipment a lot of compromises, I just want to take it and forgive. After all, with the help of it, people get a real opportunity to remain part of society.
You can enable head motion control as follows:
- Open System Preferences.
- Go to the “Universal Access” section .
- Find the item “Pointer Control” and open it.
- Select the “Other Control Methods” tab.
- Check the box “Enable head pointer control”.
Now, when you turn your head in different directions, the cursor will repeat your movements. To speed up the movement of the cursor , you need to make sharper movements. Additionally, you can adjust the cursor speed. This will require:
- Go to “System Preferences” and in the “Accessibility” section select “Pointer Control”.
- Open the tab “Other control methods” and next to the checkbox that you set earlier, on the item “Enable head pointer control”, click on “Settings”.
- Switch to the “Actions” tab and select the cursor speed that will be optimal for you.
But it is possible that you are not interested in moving your head, and you want to control the computer with your eyes.
Controlling a computer with the eyes
This option can also be enabled in the settings. It is done like this:
- Open System Preferences.
- Go to the “Universal Access” section.
- Select “Pointer Control”.
- Switch to the “Other Control Methods” tab and check the “Enable head pointer control” checkbox.
- Open “Options”.
- Select the Actions tab.
- In the “Pointer movements” section, select “Looking at the edges of the screen.”
After these settings, you will not need to move your head. Everything will happen solely due to the look.
Simulate a mouse click
However, right and left mouse button clicks are not automatically configured in this mode. You need to do it manually. This will require:
- Open “System Preferences”.
- Go to the “Universal Access” section.
- Select “Manage pointer”.
- Switch to the “Other control methods” tab.
- Check the box “Enable simulation of cursor actions” and go to “Settings”.
- At this point, you can set up an imitation of mouse clicks on keyboard keys or use facial expressions. In the window that opens, click on the “+”.
- Select the switch type “Mimicry”.
- Set up a movement that is convenient for you: smile, open your mouth, stick out your tongue, raise your eyebrows, blink, wrinkle your nose, pull your lips forward, left or right.
- Choose which mouse button will simulate movement: left, right, double or triple click and drag.
Now you can fully use cursor control with a glance or head movement to replace the mouse and trackpad. For users with disabilities, this is a great option to communicate with other people and make friends. I hope that other companies will pick up this initiative and implement similar things in their devices.
