When Sean Speaks … students should listen

Gonzales High School juniors and seniors had a presentation about the dangers of drinking and distracting driving from a non-profit group Wednesday, May 1.

Sean Carter, of When Sean Speaks, spoke to the students at the Apache Gym about his powerful story regarding his experiences with the dangers of drinking and driving just days before the GHS Prom.

In the early morning hours of Sunday, March 27, 2005, Carter was 22-year-old Midwestern State University student and a passenger in his friend’s truck. His friend had been drinking and driving, causing a horrible accident in Wichita Falls when the truck spun and slammed into a tree.

The accident resulted in multiple fractures, internal injuries and a traumatic brain injury for Sean that left him unable to speak or walk.

Today, Carter uses a synthetic voice to communicate and speak around the country about his experience, along with his mother Jenny.

“Thanks for giving us this opportunity to speak to y’all. Thank you for sitting in that chair while listening to my thoughts. I guess you can already tell that I am a little different,” Carter said.

Before the accident, Carter was a model, a former high school athlete, an Ag Mechanics student, horse trainer and he was extremely focused on his school work, he said.

Today, Sean does not have any obvious cognitive deficit. He has been able to harness his radiant smile and quick wit, as well as the power to communicate with assistance, to be a vital part of the Texas Traumatic Brain Injury Advisory Council (TBIAC). He has been on the Mentorship/Advisory Committee for the Texas EMS Trauma and Acute Care Foundation (TETAF) and represented the Survivors of Trauma.

Carter talked about the dangers of alcohol and how life altering it can be.

“Drinking was something that I snuck around. My mother told us [him and his brother] to not drink and drive … of course, what I didn’t know, it has taken many years and a life-altering crash to realize the truth in the words she spoke,” Carter said.

The students in the gym went to various stations presented by the Texas Department of Transportation and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Office, including a drunk-driving simulator and courses with “drunk” goggles

“This bring us to the focus of today,” Carter said. “Did you know on Texas roads, we’ve not had a day without a death since Nov. 7, 2000? There has been at least one traffic fatality a day. That is 23 years. This record is not one that Texas should be proud of.

“I want Texas drivers to do their part. If each driver commits to staying safe behind the wheel, not driving drunk, impaired or distracted, you can end the streak,” Carter said.

For more information about “When Sean Speaks” please go to https://www.whenseanspeaks.com. You can also email jenny@whenseanspeaks.com.