Meghan Whalen
Former Council Scholarship Recipient Meghan Whalen has a motto: You can own life or you can let it own you. Meghan has Leber Congenital Amaurosis (LCA) and has little to no usable vision. “I always say I can see just enough to get into trouble!” she says. Meghan graduated from UW-Madison in 2010 with a degree in English with an emphasis on creative writing. She lives in Madison.
Meghan considers herself a lifelong dog lover and got her first guide dog at age 17. After graduating college, she started volunteering with an organization that raises guide dog puppies. It was right about that time that her first guide dog started going blind, and they offered to train Meghan on how to train guide dogs for herself. She took them up on the offer and continues to train guide dogs for others to this day. “Like a lot of instances in my life, it started with someone recognizing my abilities and giving me a chance to really shine,” Meghan says. “I feel so fortunate to have so many people in my life who trust me enough to give me a chance.”
Guide dogs aren’t the only canines she works with. Meghan has had rat terriers that she rescued from shelters as pets for her entire life. Those dogs always encountered tragic health problems, and after doing some research, Meghan found that those problems often stem from unethical dog breeding. Knowing that rat terriers could live long and happy lives when raised under the right circumstances, Meghan decided to start a career as an ethical dog breeder.
“I was concerned at first that people wouldn’t trust me as a dog breeder because of my vision loss,” Meghan says. “But I’m able to do everything that’s needed to make sure the puppies are all healthy. I now have my own little community of people that have taken my puppies home!”
Meghan stays plenty busy taking care of her dogs, but she still finds time for other activities. Looking for something new, she learned about a sport that quickly caught her attention: blind cricket. While blind cricket is over 100 years old, Meghan had never heard of it until she saw a booth at last year’s National Federation of the Blind – Wisconsin conference. The group Samarthanam USA was looking to form the first U.S. Blind Cricket team to compete this fall in India. While Meghan had never played cricket before, she decided to give it a go.
Blind cricket is played similarly to fully sighted cricket, with a few changes to make the game more accessible to those who are blind or low vision. The ball is plastic and is filled with ball bearings that make a rattling sound when it moves. All throws must be underhanded, and the players yell “play” when they throw the ball. There are also slightly different rules for various levels of vision loss.
Meghan attended two blind cricket training camps this year, one in Long Island, New York and one near San Jose, California, with the goal of making the team. After the two intense training camps, Meghan was invited to join the team in full and will be heading to India to compete in November.
“It’s crazy to me that I’ll be playing six other countries for the world cup in the fall, considering I had never played this sport until six months ago,” Meghan says. “I’ve always wanted to compete in something, but it’s hard to find a sport that’s accessible both financially and disability wise. I’m so proud to be part of such a cool team.”
The Council has been awarding scholarships to postsecondary students who are blind or low vision for decades. You can find more information about our scholarship program and meet this year’s recipients at WCBlind.org/Events/Scholarships.