Co-Founder & Director of Emaration's Outreach & Community Support
Jordan's story.
Jordan experienced vision loss and then profound hearing loss. He adapted, kept working, and started building ideas around the problems he knew firsthand.
Jordan Remington Williams is co-founder of Emaration and Director of Emaration's Outreach & Community Support. He lives in Portland, Oregon.
He adjusted to vision loss, and then, during college, medical complications took his hearing. He kept going. He earned his bachelor's degree at Portland State University, built his confidence and independence through the Oregon Commission for the Blind, and went on to work as an advocate for people with disabilities.
The night it started
A cane that lights up.
Portland is dark, and it rains. One night, walking home, a car nearly hit Jordan. The driver said they never saw him — even with his white cane in hand.
That moment became an idea: a cane that lights up, so the people around you can see you coming. It is one of the first projects of Emaration's outreach and community-support initiative — still in early development, with quality first.
Status: Early development
The cane still has to work like a cane. The technology should make it safer without making it harder to use. — Jordan Remington Williams
Jordan's frame governs how we talk about disability here: matter-of-fact, without pity, and without inspiration for its own sake. He isn't a story we tell. He's the person doing the work.
The road so far
One step, then the next.
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Adjusting to vision loss
Jordan adjusted to vision loss and kept moving through the world on his own terms.
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Hearing loss in college
During college, medical complications took his hearing — and he kept going.
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A degree from Portland State University
He earned his bachelor's degree at Portland State University.
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Independence, built deliberately
He built his confidence and independence through the Oregon Commission for the Blind.
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Advocate for people with disabilities
He went on to work as an advocate for people with disabilities.
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Co-founding Emaration, leading its outreach
He co-founded Emaration and directs its Outreach & Community Support — where the light-up cane is one of the first projects: quality first, still in early development.
Leadership
Jordan's role in the work
Jordan's role is not ceremonial. He helps set project priorities, shape product ideas, review accessibility decisions, guide how the organization speaks about disability, and make sure the people affected by a problem have a voice in the solution.
Jordan helps decide:
- which accessibility problems Emaration addresses
- what features matter most
- how disability is represented
- how community feedback is collected
- whether a project remains practical and understandable
- who should be involved in testing
- what gets developed first
We should ask people what they need before deciding what to build for them. — Jordan Remington Williams
Jordan's experience with profound hearing loss is also helping shape Emaration's transcript-app project, including its focus on readable text, simple controls, privacy, and real conversations rather than perfect laboratory demonstrations.
Status: Concept and community-feedback stage
I want something that helps me follow the conversation without making me fight with the app. — Jordan Remington Williams