Service Animals, Emotional Support, and Guide Dogs6321198

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 as well as other editorials where people rant and complain about people they believe to be abusing the device. You hear some complain that they had to sit near your pet dog at a restaurant that they don't believe is really a "real" service dog, forms of languages complain their neighbors possess a pet in the "no pet" building since they claimed the animal is esa letter.

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

So how exactly does this affect people who legitimately own and use a service animal to better their lives? In lots of ways.

For one, it can it more difficult 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. If your landlord or company owner has heard negative stories claiming that some people are abusing the system, it can cause these to look suspiciously whatsoever claimants.

Some landlord and business people have begun seeking proof of status, even though asking for written or any other evidence might not be legal, and although many owners of legitimate service animals and emotional support animals never have taken advantage of registering them, and therefore have no such documentation to make.

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 vital to legitimate owners.

Although registration is optional, it can help shortcut the housing rental and business access issues once the owner can certainly produce a simple document which will often fulfill the owner or landlord. Also, when using public spaces, it is often easier to give over a document using a simple sentence stating, "This can be a service animal" and letting another party read the information, rather than having a long-winded protracted conversation (or even worse, argument) in public areas, with onlookers listening in and gathering around the discussion.

So, carry out some people scam the machine, or game regulations? Sadly, the answer is "probably yes." In everyday life, there is always room for abuse and people can try to take advantage of many systems that individuals as a society applied to protect the rights of those that need such protection. As an example, many drivers falsely display disabled parking placards to take advantage of free and convenient parking. Not to mention the number of people that lie on their own tax returns, claim improper tax deductions, abuse shop return policies, or do other bad acts.

However 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 all.

In the end, you can't control any system making it 100% abuse proof. So tolerating the few individuals who scam service animal laws will be the price we gladly pay to make sure that the disabled in the great state of California have equal access under law.