Service Animals, Emotional Support, and Guide Dogs711748

Sadly, many people are asking whether "service animal" laws are now 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 think to be abusing the machine. You hear some complain they had to sit near your pet dog at a restaurant that they don't believe is a "real" service dog, varieties complain that their neighbors possess a pet in the "no pet" building simply because they claimed the animal is emotional support animal letter.

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

How does this affect those who legitimately own and use a service animal to raised their lives? In several ways.

For one, it may it more difficult to navigate bureaucracy around the globe when your claim of a disability as well as your service or emotional support animal's status is questioned. If your landlord or company owner has heard negative stories claiming that some people are abusing the system, it can cause these phones look suspiciously at all claimants.

Some landlord and business people have begun asking for proof of status, although asking for written or another evidence isn't necessarily legal, and although many people who just love legitimate service animals and emotional support animals have not 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 people 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 when the owner can produce a simple document which will often satisfy the owner or landlord. Also, when using public spaces, it is usually easier to give a document using a simple sentence stating, "This is 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 across the discussion.

So, perform some people scam the machine, or game what the law states? Sadly, the answer then 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 set up to protect the rights of people who need such protection. For instance, many drivers falsely display disabled parking placards to take advantage of free and convenient parking. Not to mention the number of folks who lie on their 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, could well 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 make sure that the disabled in the great condition of California have equal access under law.