Service Animals, Emotional Support Animals, and Guide Dogs8678255

Sadly, many people 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 feel to be abusing the device. You hear some complain they had to sit near your dog at a restaurant they don't believe can be a "real" service dog, or others complain that their neighbors use a pet in a "no pet" building simply because they claimed the pet is emotional support animal registration.

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

How can this affect people who legitimately own and make use of a service animal to raised their lives? In several ways.

For one, it may it more challenging to navigate bureaucracy around the globe when your claim of the disability as well as your service or emotional support animal's status is questioned. In case a landlord or business 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 business owners have begun requesting proof of status, although asking for written or any other evidence is not always legal, although many owners of legitimate service animals and emotional support animals have not taken advantage of registering them, and therefore have no such documentation to produce.

It is the suspicious attitude and illegal demands of some landlords and business owners that make registrations services such as the Service Animal Registry of California so fundamental to legitimate owners.

Although registration is optional, it can help shortcut the housing rental and business access issues if the owner can create a simple document which will often fulfill the owner or landlord. Also, when utilizing public spaces, it is often easier to give a document using 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 places, with onlookers listening in and gathering around the discussion.

So, carry out some people scam the system, or game the law? Sadly, the answer is "probably yes." In everyday life, there is always room for abuse and individuals can try 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 instance, many drivers falsely display disabled parking placards to take advantage of free and convenient parking. Not forgetting the number of folks who lie on their own tax returns, claim improper tax deductions, abuse retail store return policies, or do other bad acts.

But that percentage of abuse, which around service animal laws is hopefully small, is arguably a very small price to pay when compared to the higher objective of promoting access and equality for many.

In the end, you can't control any system to 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.