A Ramble on the USA ADA Laws on Service Animals and those Fake Registry Websites
Hi there, I'm Rosie, I'm disabled in the USA and I've been getting a service dog recommended of me since I was 16 years old because of my disabilities.
And you're probably going "Rosie, why is this an important piece of information to us? We don't want your life story." You're probably nicer than that, but I digress. It's so you understand I know what I'm talking about.
After I got a service dog recommended to me, I was given no further guidance or advice by the people who recommended it, I was not told about ADA laws or the website. I was just told I needed one, and sent on my way.
It's now a few years from then, and I'm finally have the money to at least attempt to train a service dog, and out of an ableist household where I'm allowed to admit to being disabled and adapt to it.
That's what leads me to present day, the fake registry websites. Since I didn't know the ADA laws I wasn't aware that in the USA there was no need to register a service dog, there isn't even a registration. So I went out to search for something of the sort, since I thought that since they're a dog with a job that they would need registration.
It was a .org website so I assumed it was trustworthy, and almost fell for a scam that would have cost me nearly $500 as well as the money for the dog and training.
It's insane to me that this is allowed to stay up in truth, especially running as a .org website. I am lucky enough to have not fallen for it since I still had yet to even start training my dog, but holy shit. The only reason I didn't fall for it was because I was watching service dog tips from tiktok, since I wanted to just see what others said, and boom that was said in so many videos by creators based in the USA.
The site looked legit too, they had all the laws and needed info on there, it looked so like it was a government site.