Service Animals, Emotional Support, and Guide Dogs5999391

Sadly, some individuals are asking whether "service animal" laws are being abused by those 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 system. You hear some complain that they had to sit near your dog at a restaurant they don't believe is a "real" service dog, varieties complain that their neighbors have a pet in a "no pet" building since they claimed your pet is esa letter.

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

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

For one, it can it harder to navigate bureaucracy on the planet when your claim of a disability as well as your service or emotional support animal's status is questioned. In case a landlord or business owner has heard negative stories claiming that many people are abusing the device, it can cause these to look suspiciously at all claimants.

Some landlord and business owners have begun asking for proof of status, even though asking for written or any other evidence might not be legal, and even though many those who own legitimate service animals and emotional support animals haven't taken advantage of registering them, and therefore have no such documentation to make.

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

Although registration is optional, it can benefit shortcut the housing rental and business access issues if the owner can produce a simple document which will often match the owner or landlord. Also, when using public spaces, it is often easier to give over a document having a simple sentence stating, "This can be a service animal" and letting the other party browse the information, instead of 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 the law? Sadly, the reply is "probably yes." In life, there is always room for abuse and people can make an effort to take advantage of many systems that individuals as a society applied to protect the rights of those who need such protection. As an example, many drivers falsely display disabled parking placards to benefit from free and convenient parking. Not to mention the number of people that lie on their own tax returns, claim improper tax deductions, abuse shop 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 those.

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