This post has been updated.
President Obama took a deaf student by surprise last week by speaking to him in sign language.
“I am proud of you,” Williams signed. Obama, without skipping a beat, signed back: “Thank you.”
“When I shook his hand it did not feel like he was superior to me,” Williams told Distriction later. “He was just a humble man.”
Obama’s Twitter account shared the encounter on its feed Tuesday:
”I am proud of you,” Stephon signed. “Thank you,” the President signed back. OFA.BO/r49Cce
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) March 21, 2012
And Williams later made a video about his experience. “It was like he was waiting for me to say something,” Williams says on the video, which is in sign language. “He understood me after I said I was proud of him. It was so amazing.”
In the video, Williams also revealed that immediately after his interaction, a woman signed “I love you” to Obama.
This time, the president simply smiled.
