Service Animals, Emotional Support, and Guide Dogs2945066

Sadly, some individuals are asking whether "service animal" laws are now being abused by people who want to scam the device.

There have been news stories, articles, opinion pieces as well as other editorials where people rant and complain about people they think to be abusing the machine. You hear some complain that they had to sit near your dog at a restaurant which they don't believe is really a "real" service dog, or others complain their neighbors use a pet in a "no pet" building because they claimed the animal is esa letter.

Some of the commentary comes with an indignant tone, and a few people are downright angry.

How can this affect those who legitimately own and use a service animal to higher their lives? In lots of ways.

For one, it can it harder to navigate bureaucracy of the world when your claim of your disability and your service or emotional support animal's status is questioned. If your landlord or business proprietor has heard negative stories claiming that some people are abusing the device, it can cause these phones look suspiciously at all claimants.

Some landlord and business owners have begun seeking proof of status, even though asking for written or any other evidence might not be legal, and although many owners of legitimate service animals and emotional support animals never have taken advantage of registering them, and thus have no such documentation to make.

It is the suspicious attitude and illegal demands of some landlords and business people that make registrations services just like the Service Animal Registry of California so important legitimate owners.

Although registration is optional, it will also help shortcut the housing rental and business access issues once the owner can create a simple document which will often fulfill the owner or landlord. Also, when utilizing public spaces, it is usually easier to give a document with a simple sentence stating, "This is a service animal" and letting another party browse the information, rather than having a long-winded protracted conversation (or worse yet, argument) in public places, with onlookers listening in and gathering round the discussion.

So, carry out some people scam the device, or game what the law states? Sadly, the reply is "probably yes." In your life, there is always room for abuse and people can try to take advantage of many systems that we as a society applied to protect the rights of people who need such protection. As an example, many drivers falsely display disabled parking placards to benefit from free and convenient parking. As well as the number of people that lie on their own tax returns, claim improper tax deductions, abuse store return policies, or do other bad acts.

However that percentage of abuse, which in the area of service animal laws is hopefully small, might just be a very small investment when compared to the higher purpose of promoting access and equality for all.

In the end, you can not control any system to make it 100% abuse proof. So tolerating the few people who scam service animal laws may be the price we gladly pay to ensure that the disabled within the great state of California have equal access under law.