Service Animals, Emotional Support, and Guide Dogs6002532

Sadly, many people are asking whether "service animal" laws are being abused by those that 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 believe to be abusing the machine. You hear some complain that they to sit near your dog at a restaurant they don't believe can be a "real" service dog, varieties complain that their neighbors have a pet in a "no pet" building since they claimed your pet is emotional support animal letter.

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

So how exactly does this affect people who legitimately own and make use of a service animal to higher their lives? In many ways.

For one, it can it harder to navigate bureaucracy around the globe when your claim of your disability and your service or emotional support animal's status is questioned. If your landlord or business owner has heard negative stories claiming that many people are abusing the system, it can cause these to look suspiciously whatsoever claimants.

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

It is the suspicious attitude and illegal demands of some landlords and business owners that make registrations services 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 once the owner can create a simple document that will often satisfy the owner or landlord. Also, when working with public spaces, it is usually easier to give over a document with a simple sentence stating, "This can be a service animal" and letting the other party see the information, rather than having a long-winded protracted conversation (or worse, argument) in public places, with onlookers listening in and gathering across the discussion.

So, do some people scam the device, or game the law? Sadly, the reply is "probably yes." In your life, there is always room for abuse and people can make an effort to take advantage of many systems that individuals as a society put in place to protect the rights of those that need such protection. For instance, 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.

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

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