Service Animals, Emotional Support, and Guide Dogs1363351

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

There have been news stories, articles, opinion pieces along with other editorials where people rant and complain about people they think to be abusing the machine. You hear some complain they had to sit near a dog at a restaurant they don't believe is a "real" service dog, forms of languages complain their neighbors use a pet inside a "no pet" building because they claimed your pet is emotional support animal letter.

A number of the commentary has an indignant tone, and some people are downright angry.

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

For one, it could it more challenging to navigate bureaucracy around the globe when your claim of the disability and your service or emotional support animal's status is questioned. If a landlord or company owner has heard negative stories claiming that some individuals are abusing the system, it can cause them to look suspiciously at all claimants.

Some landlord and companies have begun requesting proof of status, although asking for written or other evidence is not always legal, and even though many those who own legitimate service animals and emotional support animals haven't 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 business people that make registrations services such as the Service Animal Registry of California so fundamental to legitimate owners.

Although registration is optional, it will also help shortcut the housing rental and business access issues once the owner can produce 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 one other party read the information, instead of having a long-winded protracted conversation (or worse, argument) in public areas, with onlookers listening in and gathering round 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 make an effort to take advantage of many systems that individuals as a society applied to protect the rights of those 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 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, might just be a very small investment when compared to the higher goal of promoting access and equality for all.

In the end, you cannot control any system making it 100% abuse proof. So tolerating the not enough people who scam service animal laws may be the price we gladly pay to ensure the disabled within the great state of California have equal access under law.