Service Animals, Emotional Support Animals, and Guide Dogs1593175

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

There have been news stories, articles, opinion pieces along with other editorials where people rant and complain about people they believe to be abusing the machine. You hear some complain that they to sit near your dog at a restaurant they don't believe is really a "real" service dog, forms of languages complain their neighbors use a pet in the "no pet" building simply because they claimed your pet is emotional support animal registration.

A few 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 employ a service animal to raised their lives? In many ways.

For one, it can it more challenging to navigate bureaucracy of the world when your claim of your disability as well as 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 device, it can cause these phones look suspiciously whatsoever claimants.

Some landlord and business owners have begun seeking proof of status, despite the fact that asking for written or other evidence might not be legal, and although many people who just love legitimate service animals and emotional support animals have not 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 owners that make registrations services just like the Service Animal Registry of California so important legitimate owners.

Although registration is optional, it can benefit shortcut the housing rental and business access issues when the owner can certainly produce a simple document that will often match the owner or landlord. Also, when working with public spaces, it is usually easier to give a document using a simple sentence stating, "This is a service animal" and letting another party browse the information, rather than having a long-winded protracted conversation (or worse, argument) in public, with onlookers listening in and gathering across the discussion.

So, do some people scam the device, or game regulations? Sadly, the reply is "probably yes." In life, there is always room for abuse the ones can attempt to take advantage of many systems that we as a society put in place 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 to mention 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, is arguably a very small price to pay when compared to the higher objective of promoting access and equality for all.

In the end, you cannot control any system making 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 condition of California have equal access under law.