Carter Paige

**Fast Facts**
Type of person	Individual

Humans Of Gawler

Paige Carter - Oak For Autism

"...Come learn, laugh, cry and enjoy this crazy, fun journey with us!"

Local wonder mum of two Paige is the creator of Oak For Autism, a personal blog detailing her journey raising her amazing son OaklAn who has been diagnosed with autism. She reaches out from her page to those in similar situations who just need some help, information or just reassurances. Posting regular videos and pictures of her journey she wants to break the stigma of autism and encourages us to change our thinking and also bring awareness to the struggles and sometimes lack of help/information out there. "We love walking, OaklAn likes to be free, he likes to be able to just run and not be held back...he's definitely an outdoors kid"

Born in Rosepark Paige moved to Gawler with her fiance (now husband) in 2014 and actually ended up buying that same house they rented! They met at St Columba College at Andrews farm. During school and after finishing year 12 Paige thought that her career would be set as a social worker, until one day her husband volunteered and went to a camp through Trinity College South Australia and Cara (one of South Australia's largest disability service providers) and he loved it so much that he insisted Paige join him on the next one, which she did!

"This was just after year 12, I was like yeah alright, I'll give it a go..... I went on the camp and LOVED it. The day after the camp they offered me a job aaaannnnd the rest is history, I've been there ever since!"

Her job was her baby, but with her little boy OaklAn getting older and being diagnosed with level 3 autism its was time to shift the focus towards her journey of raising him. She loves leadership and seeing things flourish and this is how she likes to engage people through her page.

"The reason I created Oak For Autism is that people that are in the position I was in would have no clue...I've found support pages around South Australia and Australia to be a bit.......toxic. I wanted to create a safe place so people can comment and we can one on one chat and no one is going to get attacked."

She loves just keeping active, walking, spending time with her little boy and daughter, and LOVES Yoga. Paige started it when she was pregnant and she loves the classes at Riverdell Spiritual Centre and Yoga & Wellbeing Gawler. Rachel from Temple of the Moon has been a big influence on her yoga and mental well-being.

Future plans of inclusive play space and more inclusive playgrounds is her next big venture. With a win at a recent council meeting things are looking good, so watch this space!

First shared on Gawler in Photographs ‘Humans of Gawler’ series 30 June 2021.

Photographs by Daniel James Down. Please click here to visit the Gawler in Photographs Facebook page.

Gawler History Team Inc thanks Daniel James Down (Gawler in Photographs) and the subjects of ‘Humans of Gawler’ for allowing us to preserve their profiles and photographs for future generations of Gawlerites to enjoy.

Please click here to view photos of Paige Carter.

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