Service Animals, Emotional Support Animals, and Guide Dogs3687749

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

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

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

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

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

Some landlord and business people have begun seeking proof of status, even though asking for written or another evidence is not always legal, and even though many those who own legitimate service animals and emotional support animals haven't 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 companies that make registrations services such as the Service Animal Registry of California so important legitimate owners.

Although registration is optional, it will also help shortcut the housing rental and business access issues if the owner can certainly produce a simple document which will often fulfill the owner or landlord. Also, when utilizing public spaces, it's easier to give a document with 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 yet, argument) in public, with onlookers listening in and gathering across the discussion.

So, do some people scam the device, or game the law? Sadly, the reply is "probably yes." In 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 people who need such protection. As an example, many drivers falsely display disabled parking placards to take advantage of free and convenient parking. Not forgetting the number of people who lie on the tax returns, claim improper tax deductions, abuse shop return policies, or do other bad acts.

But that percentage of abuse, which around service animal laws is hopefully small, might just be a very small investment when compared to the higher objective of promoting access and equality for many.

In the end, you can not control any system to really make it 100% abuse proof. So tolerating the few people who scam service animal laws is the price we gladly pay to ensure that the disabled within the great condition of California have equal access under law.