Service Animals, Emotional Support Animals, and Guide Dogs5364660

Sadly, some individuals are asking whether "service animal" laws are increasingly being abused by those that want to scam the system.

There have been news stories, articles, opinion pieces and other editorials where people rant and complain about people they feel to be abusing the system. You hear some complain that they had to sit near a dog at a restaurant that they don't believe is really a "real" service dog, or others complain their neighbors have a pet inside a "no pet" building because they claimed your pet is how to ask doctor for emotional support animal.

Some of the commentary posseses an indignant tone, and a few people are downright angry.

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

For one, it can it more difficult to navigate bureaucracy on the planet when your claim of your disability and your service or emotional support animal's status is questioned. If a landlord or business proprietor has heard negative stories claiming that some individuals are abusing the device, it can cause these to look suspiciously whatsoever claimants.

Some landlord and business owners have begun asking for proof of status, although asking for written or other evidence might not be legal, and even though many owners of legitimate service animals and emotional support animals never have 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 like the Service Animal Registry of California so vital to legitimate owners.

Although registration is optional, it can benefit shortcut the housing rental and business access issues if the owner can create a simple document which will often satisfy the owner or landlord. Also, when using public spaces, it is often easier to give over a document with a simple sentence stating, "This can be a service animal" and letting the other party read the information, rather than having a long-winded protracted conversation (or worse yet, argument) in public, with onlookers listening in and gathering around the discussion.

So, carry out some people scam the machine, or game regulations? Sadly, the answer then is "probably yes." In your life, there is always room for abuse and people can attempt to take advantage of many systems that people as a society applied to protect the rights of people who 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 who lie on their 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, is arguably a very small price to pay when compared to the higher purpose of promoting access and equality for many.

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