Joyce is a very sprightly 93 years old and lives in Port Macquarie on the NSW mid-north coast.

Although she has lived in Australia for 55 years as soon as Joyce speaks, her beautiful Scottish accent lets you know that she was not born here.

As a young girl in Scotland she started reading the magazine “The People’s Friend” and after moving to Australia continued to read it to stay in touch with the social and cultural happenings of her homeland. Each issue contains at least six self-contained short stories, two serials, and various factual articles, one of which is a piece on a particular town. Over time the magazine became a treasured part of her daily life.

Then a number of years ago Joyce developed Macular Degeneration, and with it lost the ability to read her beloved magazine.

Like many people with Macular Degeneration Joyce felt that her reading days were behind her. She tried a number of magnifiers to no avail and had resigned herself to giving up on reading.

Then in September last year Joyce was visited by Cheryl Dimmock, an Orientation & Mobility Specialist from Guide Dogs NSW/ACT, who suggested Joyce contact Quantum.

Joyce got to trial the new OrCam MyEye and was astonished to find that it would read her magazine, and anything else she put in front of it. Having purchased her own unit Joyce is now getting great pleasure to be once again reading The People’s Friend.

The People’s Friend was started in 1869. Would the founders have ever imagined that 150 years later their magazine would be read automatically by a small camera attached to a pair of spectacles?