Currently, there is no way for a user using a screen reader to disable the page previews feature.
After analyzing options for making the cog keyboard accessible, T192489, we recommend the addition of an additional link/button to provide this function.
Proposed solution
- A link is added to the top of the page that is only visible to screen readers
- Clicking the link disables page previews (if anonymous) or navigates to Special:Preferences to allow disabling of the feature (if logged in)
- For anonymous users clicking the link in the footer restores page previews.