Service Animals, Emotional Support, and Guide Dogs7091461

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

There have been news stories, articles, opinion pieces and 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 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 a "no pet" building because they claimed the pet is emotional support animal letter.

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

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

For one, it could 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. If a landlord or business proprietor has heard negative stories claiming that some individuals are abusing the system, it can cause them to look suspiciously in any way claimants.

Some landlord and business owners have begun asking for proof of status, even though asking for written or any other evidence might not be legal, 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 produce.

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 if the owner can create a simple document that may often fulfill the owner or landlord. Also, when utilizing public spaces, it is often easier to give over a document having a simple sentence stating, "This is really a service animal" and letting one other party read the information, as opposed to having a long-winded protracted conversation (or even worse, argument) in public areas, with onlookers listening in and gathering across the discussion.

So, carry out some people scam the system, or game the law? Sadly, the answer is "probably yes." In life, there is always room for abuse and individuals can make an effort to take advantage of many systems that we as a society set up to protect the rights of people who need such protection. For example, many drivers falsely display disabled parking placards to benefit from free and convenient parking. Not forgetting 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 in service animal laws is hopefully small, might just be a very small price to pay when compared to the higher objective of promoting access and equality for many.

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