Service Animals, Emotional Support, and Guide Dogs4943783

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

There have been news stories, articles, opinion pieces along with other editorials where people rant and complain about people they believe to be abusing the device. You hear some complain that they had to sit near a dog at a restaurant that they don't believe is really a "real" service dog, or others complain their neighbors have a pet in the "no pet" building because they claimed your pet is emotional support animal registration.

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

So how exactly does this affect those that legitimately own and use a service animal to higher their lives? In lots of ways.

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

Some landlord and companies have begun asking for proof of status, although asking for written or any other evidence might not be legal, and although many owners of legitimate service animals and emotional support animals haven't taken advantage of registering them, and thus have no such documentation to create.

It is the suspicious attitude and illegal demands of some landlords and companies that make registrations services such as the Service Animal Registry of California so fundamental to legitimate owners.

Although registration is optional, it will also help shortcut the housing rental and business access issues once the owner can certainly produce a simple document that will often fulfill the owner or landlord. Also, when working with public spaces, it's easier to give a document with a simple sentence stating, "This can be a service animal" and letting one other party see the information, as opposed to having a long-winded protracted conversation (or even worse, argument) in public, with onlookers listening in and gathering across the discussion.

So, carry out some people scam the machine, or game the law? 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 individuals as a society put in place to protect the rights of those who need such protection. For instance, many drivers falsely display disabled parking placards to benefit from free and convenient parking. As well as the number of people that lie on the tax returns, claim improper tax deductions, abuse retail store return policies, or do other bad acts.

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

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