The Redundant Figure Icon
macOS offers an incredibly robust suite of accessibility features, including VoiceOver, Zoom, and Switch Control. To make these features easier to manage, Apple allows you to place an Accessibility status icon (which looks like a small stick figure in a circle) directly in your menu bar. Clicking this icon reveals a dropdown menu that lets you quickly toggle your specific accessibility features on or off.
However, if you only use one accessibility feature (such as Zoom) and have it bound to a keyboard shortcut, or if you do not use any accessibility features at all, this icon simply takes up valuable space at the top of your screen. Furthermore, since macOS Big Sur, the unified Control Center includes an Accessibility module by default, rendering the standalone menu bar icon completely redundant. To declutter your desktop, you should disable its automatic appearance.
How to Hide the Accessibility Icon
You can remove the dedicated Accessibility status icon via the Control Center preferences.
- Click the Apple Logo in the top-left corner of your screen and select System Settings… (or System Preferences).
- In the left-hand sidebar, click on Control Center.
- In the right-hand pane, scroll down past the default modules to the section labelled Other Modules.
- Locate the Accessibility Shortcuts option.
- Next to Accessibility Shortcuts, click the toggle switch to turn it Off (or, on older macOS versions, change the dropdown to “Don’t Show in Menu Bar”).
The stick figure icon will immediately vanish from your menu bar. You can still configure all of your accessibility options at any time by navigating to System Settings > Accessibility.