Service Animals, Emotional Support Animals, and Guide Dogs9299858

Sadly, many people are asking whether "service animal" laws are being abused by those that 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 think to be abusing the machine. You hear some complain that they had to sit near a dog at a restaurant which they don't believe can be a "real" service dog, varieties complain that their neighbors have a pet in the "no pet" building since they claimed the pet is emotional support animal letter.

Some of the commentary comes with an indignant tone, plus some people are downright angry.

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

For one, it could it more difficult 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. In case a landlord or business owner has heard negative stories claiming that many people are abusing the device, it can cause these phones look suspiciously whatsoever claimants.

Some landlord and business owners have begun seeking proof of status, even though asking for written or another 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 thus 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 vital 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 which will often fulfill the owner or landlord. Also, when utilizing public spaces, it's easier to give over a document having a simple sentence stating, "This is a service animal" and letting another party see the information, rather than having a long-winded protracted conversation (or worse, argument) in public places, with onlookers listening in and gathering across the discussion.

So, do some people scam the device, or game the law? Sadly, the answer then is "probably yes." In life, there is always room for abuse and people can attempt to take advantage of many systems that individuals as a society applied to protect the rights of those who need such protection. For example, many drivers falsely display disabled parking placards to take advantage of free and convenient parking. As well as the number of people who lie on the tax returns, claim improper tax deductions, abuse store return policies, or do other bad acts.

However 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 those.

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 may be the price we gladly pay to make sure that the disabled within the great condition of California have equal access under law.