We leave you tonight with an alarming trend that's making life more difficult and discriminatory for many of New Jersey's blind residents.

A significant uptick in reports of businesses denying service to those with seeing eye dogs, everything from hotels and restaurants to rideshares.

Advocacy groups say, as the number of people using emotional support animals spiked venues started cracking down.

Ted Goldberg reports.

It really is independents.

It's a whole new freedom.

Like people like Kyle Street and Melissa Allman depend on their guide dogs to help experience the world.

If there was not a safe point for me to cross and it wasn't safe for me to cross yet and I thought it was if I would tell Luna forward, she knows to intelligently disobey me.

And then I hear the car go past and I'm like, Wow, you're amazing.

You've saved my life once again.

Allman works at The Seeing Eye, a nonprofit that has trained guide dogs for almost 100 years.

She says Luna is much more helpful to her than a cane.

I needed to be able to move swiftly around people, around obstacles on the sidewalk, like maybe a power washer or possibly a newspaper stand.

You're using a white cane.

You're having to find obstacles along the way and then figure out how to go around them.

Whereas a dog just kind of takes all that guesswork out and you're able to focus on the things that everyone else gets to focus on the birds that are chirping.

But even though these service animals have been helping those with disabilities for years, Street and Allman say they're starting to see a troubling trend for those with guide dogs.

Businesses discriminating against them.

And then I got a second driver and they cancel and get a third driver and they cancel.

And I've had that happen multiple times.

Things like catching an Uber can be tricky.

And St says he and Bailey have been denied a ride more than 40 times over the last year, even though that violates the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The driver said, I'm only going to take the dog for a fee.

And I said, That's for an extra fee.

And I said, That's against the law.

And he said he didn't care.

Allman says hotels are also breaking the law If they force her to stay on a pet friendly floor, since other people's pets may not be trained and could interfere with guide dog duties.

And if something happens to her because of another dog, then that could end our partnership forever.

And I can't take that risk.

So please don't put me on a pet floor.

Unless, of course, it's the only room left.

And that's.

That's a whole different story.

As for restaurants, they can be hit or miss.

It adds up to a lot of aggravation for people trying to get around with their guide dogs.

They tried to tell me that I could only sit outside.

It was 35 degrees outside.

It definitely is exhausting.

And I think like when it really gets to me is I know it's so upsetting when my son sees it.

You know, my wife and I both being blind.

We try really hard to make sure that he understands that blindness is nothing but a minor inconvenience and that we can do everything that anyone else can do.

You play out scenarios in your head and it can be very emotionally taxing for sure.

Considering it's already illegal to deny someone service because of a guide dog.

Allman says the solution is education and that right here companies in particular need to do a better job of teaching their employees.

No one can know all of the laws, but it's about being educated and being willing to take responsibility for the people that you've hired to educate them so that they're not set up to fail, but most importantly, so that people are not discriminated against.

Last month, the seeing eye created a new department focusing on raising awareness and support for guide dog handlers, hoping to help people and their guide dogs fight discrimination.

In Morristown, I'm Ted Goldberg.

NJ Spotlight News.