Service Animals, Emotional Support, and Guide Dogs1160145

Sadly, many people are asking whether "service animal" laws are increasingly being abused by those that want to scam the machine.

There have been news stories, articles, opinion pieces as well as 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 your dog at a restaurant that they don't believe is really a "real" service dog, forms of languages complain that the neighbors have a pet inside a "no pet" building since they claimed your pet is esa doctors near me.

A few of the commentary has an indignant tone, plus some people are downright angry.

How does this affect people who legitimately own and use a service animal to higher their lives? In many ways.

For one, it can it more difficult to navigate bureaucracy around the globe when your claim of your disability along with your service or emotional support animal's status is questioned. If a landlord or company owner has heard negative stories claiming that some people are abusing the machine, it can cause these phones look suspiciously at all claimants.

Some landlord and business owners have begun seeking proof of status, even though asking for written or any other evidence isn't necessarily 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 create.

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

Although registration is optional, it can help shortcut the housing rental and business access issues once the owner can produce a simple document that may often fulfill the owner or landlord. Also, when utilizing public spaces, it is usually easier to hand over a document with a simple sentence stating, "This is really a service animal" and letting one other party see the information, as opposed to having a long-winded protracted conversation (or even worse, argument) in public areas, with onlookers listening in and gathering round the discussion.

So, do some people scam the system, or game regulations? Sadly, the answer then is "probably yes." In life, there is always room for abuse and individuals can make an effort to take advantage of many systems that people as a society applied to protect the rights of those who need such protection. As an example, 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.

But that percentage of abuse, which in service animal laws is hopefully small, could well be a very small price to pay when compared to the higher goal of promoting access and equality for all.

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 state of California have equal access under law.