Service Animals, Emotional Support, and Guide Dogs4148359

Sadly, some people 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 and other editorials where people rant and complain about people they feel to be abusing the machine. You hear some complain that they had to sit near a dog at a restaurant which they don't believe can be a "real" service dog, or others complain that their neighbors use a pet in the "no pet" building simply because they claimed the pet is esa doctors.

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

So how exactly does this affect those who legitimately own and employ a service animal to better their lives? In several ways.

For one, it may it more challenging to navigate bureaucracy on the planet when your claim of the disability and your service or emotional support animal's status is questioned. In case a landlord or business proprietor has heard negative stories claiming that many 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 another evidence isn't necessarily legal, and although many owners of 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 like 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 when the owner can produce a simple document that may often match the owner or landlord. Also, when working with public spaces, it is often easier to give over a document using a simple sentence stating, "This is really a service animal" and letting one other party browse the information, rather than having a long-winded protracted conversation (or even worse, argument) in public places, with onlookers listening in and gathering round the discussion.

So, carry out some people scam the machine, or game what the law states? Sadly, the answer then is "probably yes." In everyday life, there is always room for abuse and people can make an effort to take advantage of many systems that people as a society put in place to protect the rights of those that need such protection. For instance, many drivers falsely display disabled parking placards to take advantage of free and convenient parking. Not to mention the number of people who lie on their 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 objective of promoting access and equality for those.

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