Service Animals, Emotional Support Animals, and Guide Dogs5592546

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

There have been news stories, articles, opinion pieces and 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 that they don't believe is a "real" service dog, or others complain their neighbors have a pet in the "no pet" building because they claimed your pet is esa doctors.

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

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

For one, it may it more difficult to navigate bureaucracy of the world when your claim of a disability as well as your service or emotional support animal's status is questioned. In case a landlord or company owner has heard negative stories claiming that some individuals are abusing the device, it can cause them to look suspiciously whatsoever claimants.

Some landlord and companies have begun seeking proof of status, even though asking for written or other evidence might not be legal, although many owners of legitimate service animals and emotional support animals haven't 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 owners that make registrations services just like 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 that may often satisfy the owner or landlord. Also, when utilizing public spaces, it is often easier to give a document having a simple sentence stating, "This is a service animal" and letting another party read the information, as opposed to having a long-winded protracted conversation (or worse, argument) in public places, with onlookers listening in and gathering around the discussion.

So, perform some people scam the system, or game the law? Sadly, the answer is "probably yes." In life, there is always room for abuse and individuals can make an effort to take advantage of many systems that individuals as a society put in place to protect the rights of people who need such protection. As an example, many drivers falsely display disabled parking placards to take advantage of free and convenient parking. Not to mention the number of people that 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, could well be a very small investment when compared to the higher purpose of promoting access and equality for many.

In the end, you can not 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 make sure that the disabled inside the great condition of California have equal access under law.