Service Animals, Emotional Support, and Guide Dogs8961723

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

There have been news stories, articles, opinion pieces and other editorials where people rant and complain about people they feel to be abusing the device. You hear some complain that they to sit near your pet dog at a restaurant that they don't believe is a "real" service dog, or others complain that the neighbors have a pet in a "no pet" building simply because they claimed the animal is esa doctors.

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

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

For one, it could it more challenging to navigate bureaucracy around the globe when your claim of a disability as well as your service or emotional support animal's status is questioned. If a landlord or business owner has heard negative stories claiming that some people are abusing the system, it can cause these to look suspiciously in any way claimants.

Some landlord and business people have begun seeking proof of status, although asking for written or any other evidence is not always legal, and although many those who own legitimate service animals and emotional support animals have not taken advantage of registering them, and so have no such documentation to produce.

It is the suspicious attitude and illegal demands of some landlords and business owners that make registrations services such as the Service Animal Registry of California so important legitimate owners.

Although registration is optional, it can help shortcut the housing rental and business access issues if the owner can produce a simple document that may often satisfy the owner or landlord. Also, when utilizing public spaces, it's easier to give a document using a simple sentence stating, "This can be a service animal" and letting the other party see the information, rather than having a long-winded protracted conversation (or worse yet, argument) in public places, with onlookers listening in and gathering around the discussion.

So, carry out some people scam the system, or game the law? Sadly, the answer then is "probably yes." In life, there is always room for abuse and individuals can make an effort to take advantage of many systems that people as a society applied to protect the rights of those that need such protection. For 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 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 investment when compared to the higher goal of promoting access and equality for all.

In the end, you can not 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 make sure that the disabled inside the great condition of California have equal access under law.