Service Animals, Emotional Support Animals, and Guide Dogs

Sadly,  emotional support animal registration  are asking whether "service animal" laws are increasingly being abused by those that 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 system. You hear some complain that they had to sit near your dog at a restaurant they don't believe is really a "real" service dog, or others complain that their neighbors have a pet in a "no pet" building because they claimed the animal is an emotional support animal.

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

How does this affect those that legitimately own and use a service animal to raised their lives? In lots of ways.

For one, it could it more difficult to navigate bureaucracy of the world when your claim of a disability as well as your service or emotional support animal's status is questioned. In case a landlord or business proprietor has heard negative stories claiming that some people are abusing the system, it can cause them to look suspiciously at all claimants.

Some landlord and companies have begun asking for proof of status, even though asking for written or other evidence is not always legal, and even though 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 companies that produce registrations services just like the Service Animal Registry of California so vital to legitimate owners.

Although registration is optional, it can benefit shortcut the housing rental and business access issues once the owner can create a simple document that will often satisfy the owner or landlord. Also, when using public spaces, it is easier to give a document with a simple sentence stating, "This is the service animal" and letting another party read the information, instead of having a long-winded protracted conversation (or even worse, argument) in public areas, with onlookers listening in and gathering round the discussion.

So, do some individuals scam the machine, or game regulations? Sadly, the answer is "probably yes." In life, there's always room for abuse and people can try to make the most of many systems that we as a society set up to protect the rights of these who 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 tax returns, claim improper tax deductions, abuse retail store return policies, or do other bad acts.

But that percentage of abuse, which in the area of service animal laws is hopefully small, is arguably a very small price to pay when compared to the higher goal of promoting access and equality for several.

In the end, you cannot control any system to make it 100% abuse proof. So tolerating the few individuals who scam service animal laws is the price we gladly pay to make certain the disabled in the great state of California have equal access under law.