Service Animals, Emotional Support, and Guide Dogs9227466

Sadly, some individuals 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 system. You hear some complain that they to sit near a dog at a restaurant which they don't believe is really a "real" service dog, forms of languages complain that the neighbors use a pet in a "no pet" building simply because they claimed the pet is emotional support animal registration.

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

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

For one, it can it more challenging to navigate bureaucracy of the world when your claim of a disability along with your service or emotional support animal's status is questioned. If your landlord or business proprietor has heard negative stories claiming that many people are abusing the device, it can cause them to look suspiciously at all claimants.

Some landlord and business people have begun asking for proof of status, despite the fact that asking for written or any other evidence might not be legal, although many people who just love legitimate service animals and emotional support animals haven't taken advantage of registering them, and thus have no such documentation to produce.

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

Although registration is optional, it can help shortcut the housing rental and business access issues when the owner can produce a simple document that will often match the owner or landlord. Also, when working with public spaces, it is usually easier to give a document using a simple sentence stating, "This is a service animal" and letting one other party see the information, rather than having a long-winded protracted conversation (or even worse, argument) in public places, with onlookers listening in and gathering round the discussion.

So, perform some people scam the system, or game the law? Sadly, the reply is "probably yes." In your life, there is always room for abuse and individuals can attempt to take advantage of many systems that individuals as a society put in place to protect the rights of people who need such protection. For 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 the tax returns, claim improper tax deductions, abuse store return policies, or do other bad acts.

But that percentage of abuse, which in 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 can't control any system making it 100% abuse proof. So tolerating the few individuals who scam service animal laws may be the price we gladly pay to ensure the disabled inside the great condition of California have equal access under law.