Posted on June 1, 2026
With a background spanning direct support and technology, Amie Newton is making assistive technology more accessible and impactful.
Aime Newton (left) helps coworker Allis Kensing demonstrate an Assistive Technology tool.
For Amie Newton, technology has always been about solving problems. At Penn-Mar, that curiosity is connecting people to new ways to communicate and live independently.
Her career arc spans a wide range of industries: from DJ to tax preparer to Direct Support Professional (DSP) to her current job as Enabling Technology Resource Coordinator at Penn-Mar. “My background was a perfect segue into my new position,” she said. “The combination of technology, analytics, and human services came together to create one perfect job!”
After joining Penn-Mar in 2010 as a part-time DSP, Amie quickly moved into a full-time role at the community home in Spring Grove, PA. Two years later she was promoted to Residential Supervisor of a home in Stewartstown, PA, and eventually decided to move to a Penn-Mar residence in Loganville, PA as a Sr. DSP. That frontline experience is helping her connect technology solutions to real-world needs.
A little over a year ago Amie was offered “the perfect job” in the Assistive Technology (AT) Department. She spends her days researching, acquiring, and demonstrating AT products that will help the people Penn-Mar supports with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) live more independently.
Amie credits her years as a DSP with helping her “to connect the dots” on how these new technologies can benefit people with IDD.
Since joining the department, all Penn-Mar new hires have been given a tour of the AT library as part of their orientation. Amie has also been working on educating the staff to acquaint them with the library’s current holdings.
At the recent Grand Opening of the new Washington Heights building in Westminster, Amie and her coworker Allis Kensing, Enabling Technology Coordinator, demonstrated how to use the many pieces of AT in the smart kitchen. The crowd was especially in awe of an induction cook top stove that only heats up when the pan is on the burner and a smart faucet that can pour an exact cup of water on demand.
Aime Newton (left) helps coworker Allis Kensing demonstrate an Assistive Technology tool.
In June, the department will host an AT Showcase at Penn-Mar North to introduce its cutting-edge technology to team members, supporters, families, and the people Penn-Mar supports.
“The best chance for success is for AT devices to be used both at the person’s home and at Penn-Mar Day Program locations, so we will be training everyone involved,” said Amie.
Recently, Amie’s department rolled out an annual assessment screening program for people receiving Penn-Mar supports in Maryland to determine what AT devices they can use as natural supports. Requests are submitted to the state for funding, and she just received the first of what she hopes will be many approvals.
“We have seen tremendous traffic increases in the past year,” Amie said. “Team members are telling us the needs they have in their specific areas and asking what products could help them. They are thinking about adding an AT solution rather than more staff, which is moving in the right direction.”
Amie describes the library offering as “a rolling scenario” of both high-tech and low-tech items: Wiffle balls, fidget poppers, bowls and plates with suction cups, large keyboards, land line phones with touch pictures instead of dials, personal sound amplifiers and headphones, and special pens that scan text passages and provide a verbal playback.
“Many of the AT products featured at the library are customized to answer specific needs. Some of these products eventually benefit many people,” she explained. Recently, Amie created a visual learning tool for a non-verbal person who is actively learning sign language. By pressing different word and phrase tiles, the person can instantly access videos demonstrating how to sign what they want to communicate, creating new opportunities for learning and self-expression. Her hope is that more people will realize that just because a person has a disability doesn’t mean they lose their ability to take part in daily living activities. “Technology can help do so many things that they haven’t thought possible. I encourage team members and families to visit our AT library to explore the products we offer that will help the people Penn-Mar supports live their best life.”
Sometimes the right tool can make all the difference.