5 ms·

The emotional support loophole abuse has been going around on Facebook and Reddit as a trick to get your animal anywhere for a while now. Everyone knows the tri

The emotional support loophole abuse has been going around on Facebook and Reddit as a trick to get your animal anywhere for a while now. Everyone knows the trick now and very few people care that they're abusing the system.

13rac1 6y ago
This doesn't seem too far of a reach: "Abusing the system" => Taking advantage of services for people with mental and physical disabilities => Taking advantage of people with disabilities.
- DoreenMichele 6y ago
  It's a little more complicated than that. Homeless people also will claim their pet is an emotional support animal. They are often homeless because they are disabled but being homeless means "Good luck jumping through bureaucratic hoops to register anything." Sometimes someone's life comes unraveled because their disability has never been properly identified and accommodated. Being able to say "I need this" without having to jump through hoops to prove it can help such people make their lives work better. Most studies suggest that something like one in five people has a disability. One study that asked about user needs and challenges in using stuff intentionally avoided using stigmatizing words like "disabled" or "handicapped" and more like three fifths of respondents said they had some degree of trouble doing various things and more accessible design would benefit them. People who are only moderately disabled often try like hell to avoid getting labeled as disabled because it is stigmatizing and people start treating you like you are stupid and worthless rather than like you just need special accommodation in some areas to make your life work. Those who qualify for an official label of "disabled" are equally hostile to seeing only moderately disabled people being granted the label that grants special status and special accommodation. The reality is that disability occurs along a continuum. It isn't an on/off switch where if you fall on this side of the line you are "normal, healthy and able-bodied" and if you fall on that side of the line you are "disabled." We try to categorize it like it works that way but it doesn't really work that way.
  - 13rac1 6y ago
    I understand there is a huge grey area on this subject. I specifically refer to the abusers (the only label I am applying intentionally.) I didn't mention people who are homeless. A much better explanation than I can give at this time: http://brightside-susan.blogspot.com/2011/05/people-behaving-badly-service-dogs.html http://brightside-susan.blogspot.com/2011/05/people-behaving... A quote from the article: > "Each time an employee has an encounter with a fake service dog (and yes, they know when you're lying), this brings us tangibly closer to the implementation of laws, regulations, and policies that make it harder for me to live my life without being treated as a second-class citizen." As a video: https://www.kronon.tv/videos/people-behaving-badly-2013-farmers-markets-dogs-3677508 https://www.kronon.tv/videos/people-behaving-badly-2013-farm...
    - DoreenMichele 6y ago
      The first thing you linked to is the personal opinion of someone with what looks like a personal blog. I have had a college class on Homelessness and Public Policy. I homeschooled my two gifted-learning disabled sons for years, which means I effectively ran a two student school under the laws of California for years. I also spent some years homeless in part due to my own disability. Before I was diagnosed with a serious disability in my thirties, I was routinely dismissed by people around me as merely "lazy" (while being sick all the time and one of the top students of my graduating high school class). Lots of people who claim their animal is a "service animal" are people whose lives are in the toilet, the system doesn't work for them and they have serious issues. Inability to prove need is not actually evidence of lying. I have a dog phobia and don't like being around them. I am all for finding some means to make sure people keep their animals under control in public. I have had lots of negative experiences with assholes who will not control their dog and who feel I am obligated to meet their dog's emotional needs and all this kind of crappy thing. Plenty of people being dismissed as "merely abusing the system" have a real need and "abusing the system" is their only means to try to meet it in a world that is routinely hostile to their needs. It's really complicated. Trying to sort out a better policy is not simple at all.
      - 6y ago
colejohnson66 6y ago
It’s pretty infuriating. Everyone abuses the system from people who don’t like walking using the electric carts at grocery stores to this. But everyone (who works) is afraid to confront the person abusing because they don’t want to be sued.

13rac1 6y ago

This doesn't seem too far of a reach: "Abusing the system" => Taking advantage of services for people with mental and physical disabilities => Taking advantage of people with disabilities.

DoreenMichele 6y ago
It's a little more complicated than that. Homeless people also will claim their pet is an emotional support animal. They are often homeless because they are disabled but being homeless means "Good luck jumping through bureaucratic hoops to register anything." Sometimes someone's life comes unraveled because their disability has never been properly identified and accommodated. Being able to say "I need this" without having to jump through hoops to prove it can help such people make their lives work better. Most studies suggest that something like one in five people has a disability. One study that asked about user needs and challenges in using stuff intentionally avoided using stigmatizing words like "disabled" or "handicapped" and more like three fifths of respondents said they had some degree of trouble doing various things and more accessible design would benefit them. People who are only moderately disabled often try like hell to avoid getting labeled as disabled because it is stigmatizing and people start treating you like you are stupid and worthless rather than like you just need special accommodation in some areas to make your life work. Those who qualify for an official label of "disabled" are equally hostile to seeing only moderately disabled people being granted the label that grants special status and special accommodation. The reality is that disability occurs along a continuum. It isn't an on/off switch where if you fall on this side of the line you are "normal, healthy and able-bodied" and if you fall on that side of the line you are "disabled." We try to categorize it like it works that way but it doesn't really work that way.
- 13rac1 6y ago
  I understand there is a huge grey area on this subject. I specifically refer to the abusers (the only label I am applying intentionally.) I didn't mention people who are homeless. A much better explanation than I can give at this time: http://brightside-susan.blogspot.com/2011/05/people-behaving-badly-service-dogs.html http://brightside-susan.blogspot.com/2011/05/people-behaving... A quote from the article: > "Each time an employee has an encounter with a fake service dog (and yes, they know when you're lying), this brings us tangibly closer to the implementation of laws, regulations, and policies that make it harder for me to live my life without being treated as a second-class citizen." As a video: https://www.kronon.tv/videos/people-behaving-badly-2013-farmers-markets-dogs-3677508 https://www.kronon.tv/videos/people-behaving-badly-2013-farm...
  - DoreenMichele 6y ago
    The first thing you linked to is the personal opinion of someone with what looks like a personal blog. I have had a college class on Homelessness and Public Policy. I homeschooled my two gifted-learning disabled sons for years, which means I effectively ran a two student school under the laws of California for years. I also spent some years homeless in part due to my own disability. Before I was diagnosed with a serious disability in my thirties, I was routinely dismissed by people around me as merely "lazy" (while being sick all the time and one of the top students of my graduating high school class). Lots of people who claim their animal is a "service animal" are people whose lives are in the toilet, the system doesn't work for them and they have serious issues. Inability to prove need is not actually evidence of lying. I have a dog phobia and don't like being around them. I am all for finding some means to make sure people keep their animals under control in public. I have had lots of negative experiences with assholes who will not control their dog and who feel I am obligated to meet their dog's emotional needs and all this kind of crappy thing. Plenty of people being dismissed as "merely abusing the system" have a real need and "abusing the system" is their only means to try to meet it in a world that is routinely hostile to their needs. It's really complicated. Trying to sort out a better policy is not simple at all.
    - 6y ago

colejohnson66 6y ago

It’s pretty infuriating. Everyone abuses the system from people who don’t like walking using the electric carts at grocery stores to this. But everyone (who works) is afraid to confront the person abusing because they don’t want to be sued.