Service Animals, Emotional Support Animals, and Guide Dogs1129845

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

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 machine. You hear some complain they had to sit near a dog at a restaurant they don't believe is a "real" service dog, forms of languages complain their neighbors use a pet in a "no pet" building since they claimed your pet is emotional support animal.

Some 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 use a service animal to higher their lives? In many ways.

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

Some landlord and business people have begun asking for proof of status, even though asking for written or another evidence might not be legal, and although many those who own legitimate service animals and emotional support animals have not taken advantage of registering them, and thus have no such documentation to make.

It is the suspicious attitude and illegal demands of some landlords and business people that make registrations services such as the Service Animal Registry of California so important 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 match the owner or landlord. Also, when using public spaces, it's easier to give a document with a simple sentence stating, "This is a service animal" and letting one other party read the information, as opposed to having a long-winded protracted conversation (or worse yet, argument) in public, with onlookers listening in and gathering across the discussion.

So, do some people scam the machine, or game regulations? Sadly, the answer 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 applied to protect the rights of those who need such protection. For instance, many drivers falsely display disabled parking placards to take advantage of free and convenient parking. Not forgetting the number of people that lie on their own tax returns, claim improper tax deductions, abuse retail store return policies, or do other bad acts.

However 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 many.

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 make sure that the disabled in the great state of California have equal access under law.