Service Animals, Emotional Support, and Guide Dogs217757

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

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 system. You hear some complain they had to sit near your dog at a restaurant they don't believe is a "real" service dog, or others complain that their neighbors possess a pet in the "no pet" building since they claimed the pet is emotional support animal.

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

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

For one, it could it more challenging to navigate bureaucracy on the planet when your claim of your disability along with your service or emotional support animal's status is questioned. If a landlord or business proprietor has heard negative stories claiming that some individuals are abusing the machine, it can cause them to look suspiciously at all claimants.

Some landlord and companies have begun requesting proof of status, even though asking for written or another evidence is not always legal, and although many owners of legitimate service animals and emotional support animals have not 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 companies that make registrations services such as the Service Animal Registry of California so vital 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 that will often match the owner or landlord. Also, when working with public spaces, it is usually easier to hand over 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 even worse, argument) in public places, with onlookers listening in and gathering around the discussion.

So, carry out some people scam the device, or game the law? Sadly, the answer then is "probably yes." In everyday life, there is always room for abuse the ones can make an effort to take advantage of many systems that people as a society set up 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 forgetting the number of people that lie on their tax returns, claim improper tax deductions, abuse shop return policies, or do other bad acts.

But that percentage of abuse, which in 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 to really make it 100% abuse proof. So tolerating the few individuals who scam service animal laws is the price we gladly pay to ensure that the disabled within the great condition of California have equal access under law.