Strive to overcome your barriers is the message Shaun Pianta loves to promote.

The Australia para-alpine skier has faced many barriers in his life but he was never going to simply give up.

He recently spoke at the Nowra atWork Australia* office and Shaun's story definitely inspired the audience.

Shaun was an atWork client himself.

"I was really struggling to find work myself and needed someone to help me. I went to atWork and they ended up giving me a job as well," he said.

Shaun is now an atWork ambassador and he travels all over Australia inspiring others to not let a disability or a barrier stop them from chasing their dreams.

Shaun's story starts with an overseas trip.

When he was 19-years-of-age Shaun went over to Bali with a group of his mates.

He never expected the trip would change his life forever.

It was the first time he travelled overseas without his parents.

The group for the first five days had a "blast" then things went bad.

"The sixth day is the day my life completely changed," he said

His memory of the events are cloudy and his friends had to piece things together for him.

Shaun had organised a day's whitewater rafting and was not feeling well when he woke up this morning.

However, nothing was going to stop him and his mates from making this trip.

"On the bus ride to the river, I turned to my friends and was like 'what are we doing - where are we going? They were like 'what do you mean - you organised this trip you idiot'," he said.

When they got off the bus Shaun's mates were starting to realise things were not right.

Shaun asked one of his mates to get him a drink of water.

"He got me a bottle of water and put in between my feet. I sat there for a few more minutes and I said to my mate 'are you going to get me that bottle of water?' He said 'yeah it's right there' and I started waving my hands around trying to find the bottle."

He could not see the water bottle.

"This is when a smart person would of went to the hospital but we decided to carry on with the rafting trip," he said.

Shaun could barely walk and was constantly tripping over as they walked down a track to the river.

He needed support from four friends, two either side, to get him down the hill.

His strength started to go and he couldn't even use a paddle and he fell out of the raft, smashing his head on a rock.

By the time the trip ended he was 100 per cent blind and could not walk.

His friends were starting to freak out at this stage.

"Just take me back to the hotel, I will get some sleep and let's see how I feel tomorrow," was Shaun's advice to his worried mates.

Luckily his mates did not listen and they took him to hospital and some tests were carried out.

"They pulled my friends into a room and said 'Shaun has a bleed on the brain and fractured vertebra and he needs to be emergency evacuated back to Perth immediately'."

Shaun was going in and out of consciousness and did not know what was going on.

He remembers hearing a voice in a familiar accent say 'I am Greg and I am here to take you home'," Shaun recalled.

Greg from the Royal Australian Flying Service was the man behind the words.

No matter how many times he tells the story Shaun stills get shivers down his spine.

"It was like Greg was there to save me and from then on, I thought everything was going to be okay," Shaun said.

Home in Perth, he was told he did not have bleeding on the brain or a fractured vertebra but he had complete kidney failure which could not be explained and they could not say if his vision would event return.

He was one sick boy - one doctor was surprised he survived.

"I knew I was in a bad way but did not know I was that close to dying," he said.

With his family around him, Shaun's kidneys got better but his sight did not.

He has 10 per cent vision and is legally blind.

Coming to terms with his situation was one of the toughest things Shaun ever had to face.

He just did not know what he was going to do with the rest of his life.

"I felt like life was passing me by," he said.

Shaun did some study at TAFE with a little help.

"I had to have a note taker in class to help me with my reading and writing," he said.

He was in the wilderness for a few years until he found out about an organisation called Disabled Winter Sports Australia and off he went to a training camp.

"After my first few days skiing, I decided I would be going to the Paralympics," he announced.

"It was a big goal to set after one day but we will set the bar high."

So how does a blind man ski?

Shaun skis with a sighted guide who goes in front and they give directions all the way down the mountain.

"We still reach high speeds and I was clocked at 130 kilometres an hour," he said.

"The only thing that is going through your head is 'please I hope I don't crash'."

He moved to Jindabyne, went skiing as much as he could and then was invited to a few training sessions with the Australian Paralympic team and then spent three months competing in Europe.

Skiing was going well, he was excited about the upcoming races and the fate stepped in again.

"It was five days before the first race I was out training and skiing down a hill. Then the next thing I know I am somersaulting down the hill," he said.

"I can remember feeling my leg twist the snap and as I kept on tumbling I felt my other leg do the exact same thing."

He stopped tumbling and felt at his leg and they both faced sideways.

"I was in the most intense pain I have ever felt. I thought it's all over from here and there would be no way I would ever get back to skiing," Shaun said.

"In the back of my mind, I could hear my mum saying 'I told you not to hurt yourself'."

He was taken off the mountain, had surgery in an Austrian hospital and had rods inserted into his legs.

"I shared a room with three Austrian men who could not speak English and I could not see the TV - it was a very long 10 days," he joked.

He eventually got back to Perth and spent the next three months in a wheelchair, needed to be on crutches for seven weeks and in total seven-and-half months before he got back on the slopes.

The rehab process was a testing time.

"There were some days when I really felt like giving up and I had to ask myself how much was it that I wanted to get back to skiing?"

He was given some harsh love by friends and family who told him to stop complaining and just get on with the rehab.

Shaun literally and metaphorically still had a mountain to climb.

"I thought the toughest part was behind me but it only got tougher when I got back to skiing - both physically and mentally," he said.

"Physical because the pain in my shins was uncontrollable and every time I went out my legs would just throb.

"Mentally was because when you're racing it's all about getting down the mountain as fast as you can but when you have all these thoughts and memories floating around in your head it's hard to overcome those barriers."

In November of 2015, he finally got to have his first race and he started to believe his Paralympic dream might become a reality.

He competed well for the following two years with a 2017 Parra World Champs being a highlight.

His goal was the 2108 Paralympics Games in South Korea.

"I had my eyes on the prize. Racing and training were both going well," he said.

Six weeks before the opening ceremony, he was training in a makeshift gym in the side of a mountain in Switzerland and doing was lateral movements.

"I moved to my left and back to my right, slipped and tripped and I heard a pop and a crack. Just like that, I had completely blown my ACL," the unlucky Shaun said.

He was thinking he would have to wait another four long years to achieve his Olympic dream.

Shaun was at home for a week when he was offered the chance to head to the AIS in Canberra for some intensive rehab aimed at getting him on the snow before the games.

He was told about all the possible risks of going back to the sport with an injured knee and how he could do further damage.

Shaun can't remember the doctors' exact words because he stopped listening.

After three weeks at the AIS, he was given clearance to do return to snow training but he had to wear a big steel brace on his leg.

He headed to Aspen for three days of snow training with the rest of the Australian team but had to pass a fitness test so he could just fly to Korea.

"I remember going to the opening ceremony of the Paralympics and it was the most incredible experience of my life and something I will never forget," he said..

"In the back of my mind I am thinking - will I be able to race in a few days?"

Two days before his first event he got the all clear to compete.

"I remember standing at the start-gate in absolute disbelief that is was getting this opportunity. I was so proud to be standing there, representing Australia," he said.

There is no gold, silver or bronze story ending and Shaun did not win any medals.

"My performance was not up to scratch that day but I was really excited to get there in the end."

He then walked away from the sport.

Shaun felt lost and did not know what he would do.

He found about atWork Australia and then went to work for them.

His ability to overcome barriers in life was recognised and atWork now sends him around Australia where he shares his story.

He loves encouraging others to find employment to improve their lives.

*atWork Australia is a leading employment services provider working with Australians across the nation.