Air travel with service animal. When do customers abuse the emmotional support title

Service Animals Regulations Abuse
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Service Animals Regulations Abuse
Service animals are animals that that help people with disabilities by providing emotional support or physical support. When walking around an airport, it is common to see people with animals boarding the planes, claiming them to be service animals. It is common to wonder what kind of emotional support that the service animal offers in some cases (Bergen, 2011). They look more like pets than service animals. The essay is about the abuse of the animal service right when it comes to air travel. The essay is about how people often take advantage of the disabilities act law and to not log their pets in the carriers list.
There are plenty of people with medical and the psychological disabilities need for service dogs or other emotional support animals. Having the service dogs wear vests makes things easier when getting the animals into places where there are buildings where pets are not allowed. However, with the current system, controlling the service animals is filled with abuse.
There are three different sets of federal statutes that defend the individuals with disabilities that need service animals: the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Air Carrier Access Act and Fair Housing Act. The division of the responsibilities resulted in the bewildering array of the confusing and conflicting regulations.
The ADA governs the access of public places and business enterprises. The rules are administered by the Civil Rights Division from the Department of Justice.

The rules only pertain to service animals. Under the ADA regulations, only dogs qualify as service animals. Second, pets are not considered to be service animals. Third, which is the most important, service dogs should have special training to have specific services for the specific disabilities. Service animals that are legitimate range from guide dogs for blind people to psychiatric service animals that can sense potential panic attacks in owners who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (Winkle, 2009).
The ADA regulations are supposed to be reasonable. However, when you consider the details, they pose some inconveniences to those who have rules about pets. The law stipulates that owners with regulations should only ask two questions: “does the dog give a service?” and the second question “what the service animal’s training is?” It, therefore, means that the person enquiring cannot ask what the person’s disability is. They can neither ask the animal’s owner to provide documentation to prove that the animal is a service animal. There is no federally recognized service animal certification. Furthermore, there are no any identifications such as a vest that the animals should wear to recognize them as service animals (Bowes, 2015).
There are other people who try to take up free trips for their dogs and other pets under auspices of another agency, the Department of Transport. Their regulations are different from the ADA with important respects. First, contrary to the ADA, the Air Carrier Access Act provides the legal standing to animals whose purpose is to provide emotional support. Therefore, it means that unlike the service dogs, the emotional support animals do not require special training. It is enough that they are meant for one’s psychological wellbeing. Therefore, other people’s pets may be entitled to a free aeroplane trip if it helps them get through the trip. The flight attendants are afraid of having suits filed against them for discrimination against the physically challenged, because it is a vulnerable business (Bowes, 2015). They try to avoid negative publicity. They avoid confronting their passengers on the issue. Therefore, for fairness to both sides, there have to be regulations that govern the registration of service animals (Bergen, 2011).
There are more people falsely claiming that their dogs are service animals nowadays. The increasing deception by dog owners is also making it hard for those who genuinely own service dogs to be taken seriously. There are encounters with people out in public putting vests on their dogs that are certainly not trained. In some cases, the dogs behave badly and have been even known to bite other people CITATION Bow151 l 2057 (Bowes, 2015). This has resulted to some restaurant owners being more suspicious of people walking in with dogs. It is easy for anyone to buy service dogs vests over the internet and in some cases with official tags. The lack of no enforcement by any certified federal agency.
One of the main reasons behind the deception is to get a free ride for their dogs in air travel. They falsely claim that they need them for emotional support. Once they are allowed to have their dogs with them, they avoid about $100 charge for their pets. It is easy to get a dog certified online.
There are some airlines that make the effort to verify the claims. For instance, some airlines require that one has to have a letter that contains the therapist’s phone number and address and has to indicate which disorder one has. One has to have a disorder listed in the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of American and Psychiatric Association (Denholm, 2010). Additionally, the airline requires that one should be under constant treatment from their professional.
There is no doubt that there are people who need the emotional support. There have to be ways to verify the honesty of the owners to avoid any conflict. The people who are dishonest about their pets cause inconveniences for restaurant and the people who own real service animals. Therefore, to avoid the conflict and confusion, there should be regulations that require one to verify the animals that they own are service animals.
There may be perhaps certified government documents that prove that one owns a service animal. The laws that protect the people with disabilities were written mostly in favour of one party. They never gave room to those who may be negatively affected by the fraudulent people. In addition to people lying about their “service animals”, there are bogus service animals verifying institutions. There are services offered to record one’s dog as a fake service dog. Regulations should also regulate such as institutions. They should be certified to avoid any fake confirmations made by the institutions.
Faking a service animal for the sake of getting it into a restaurant, hotel and get it a free ride should be considered as fraud. People should not be allowed to so. The ADA regulation should give airline owners and other restaurant owners the chance to observe their regulations. It would also allow the business owners not to be defrauded by giving them free rides. If the regulations are adjusted, those who have genuine service animals will avoid prejudice from other business owners who have rules against pets in their property.

Reference List
BIBLIOGRAPHY l 2057 Bergen, C. (2011). Emotional Support Animals. Administrative Issues Journal: Education Practice and Research, 34:60-81.
Bowes, P. (2015, March 26). Advocates Fight Against Service Dogs. Retrieved from BBC News: www.bbc.com/news/magazine-3164690
Denholm, B. (2010). Service Dogs in Healthcare. AORN Journal, 67:p12-25.
Winkle, M. (2009). Service dogs and people with disabilities. Occupational Therapy International, 45:p34-56.