The 26-year-old, who was born in Nowra and now lives in the Southern Highlands, was born with cataracts and also suffers from nystagmus - or involuntary eye movement - and glaucoma.

She is supporting International White Cane Day this Wednesday to raise awareness of the significance of the mobility aid for those with vision impairment. It has helped her when she's out and about in crowds and the Australian Paralympic skier has even used it out on the snow.

"What I see is like vivid coloured blurs," Ms Perrine said. "I can see details close up but anything more than 30 centimetres away from my face is pretty hard to see and at night, or in the twilight hours, I can't see anything at all.

"But as I grew up, I just figured things out for myself and I guess that's why I've always been resistant to the idea of learning to use the white cane - I thought that I didn't need any extra help. But I couldn't have been more wrong."

With help from staff at Vision Australia's Fairy Meadow office, Ms Perrine learnt to use the cane late last year and said that it gave her vital information about her surroundings.

"I rely on it as my guide and I learn so much from it," she said. "For example, I can feel changes in the road surface. Even the sound it makes lets me know what I am about to walk over.

"I don't look vision impaired and sometimes people don't know I'm struggling, particularly in crowds, but my white cane has really helped and I feel much more confident travelling at night."

Ms Perrine represented Australia at the Sochi 2014 Paralympics in alpine skiing in the downhill, super-G, super combined, slalom and giant slalom events.

She came fourth in the downhill but was disqualified from the super combined for wearing an illegal visor attached to her helmet with duct tape during her slalom run.

Her guide, Andrew Bor, put it there to stop the light from shining in her eyes but he had not read the regulations, which prohibit such a thing.

"I didn't have the fairytale Games - it was a bit of a travesty - but it was still pretty incredible to be there," Ms Perrine said.

"It's an honour to represent your country and, especially with the Paralympics, you're aware of what it has taken each and every competitor to be there.

"My cane made it remarkably easy for me to find my way through the airports. I even had it with me out on the snow."

She's looking forward to the alpine skiing world championships in 2015 and hopes to make the next Paralympics but this week she'll be celebrating the awareness day.

"International White Cane Day is a day that is celebrated around the world and, to me, it is a day that is incredibly important," she said.

Ms Perrine is studying to become a physiotherapist and supports the Guide Dogs NSW/ACT employer awareness campaign Have Cane, Am Able to Work, being launched on Wednesday.