Service Animals, Emotional Support Animals, and Guide Dogs6444696

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

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 they had to sit near your dog at a restaurant which they don't believe can be a "real" service dog, forms of languages complain their neighbors possess a pet in a "no pet" building since they claimed the animal is emotional support animal.

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

How does this affect those that legitimately own and employ a service animal to higher their lives? In lots of ways.

For one, it could 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 your landlord or business owner has heard negative stories claiming that some individuals are abusing the device, it can cause these phones look suspiciously whatsoever claimants.

Some landlord and companies have begun asking for proof of status, although asking for written or any other evidence is not always legal, although many people who just love legitimate service animals and emotional support animals have not taken advantage of registering them, and therefore have no such documentation to create.

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

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

So, do some people scam the machine, or game what the law states? Sadly, the answer is "probably yes." In your life, there is always room for abuse and individuals can try to take advantage of many systems that we 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 the tax returns, claim improper tax deductions, abuse retail store return policies, or do other bad acts.

However that percentage of abuse, which around service animal laws is hopefully small, might just be a very small price to pay when compared to the higher purpose of promoting access and equality for those.

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