However, with a continuing stream of discrimination cases landing on her desk, Ms Tesoriero sees no end in sight for her specialist role within the Human Rights Commission.
"My greatest joy would be if we didn't need my role, but we are probably light years away from that," Ms Tesoriero, who visited Dunedin this week to meet disability groups, said.
"As a population group, disabled people are not doing as well as we ought to be doing, and that's something I don't think we talk about enough, to really create a national awareness of how far we have to go."
The main areas the commission as a whole receives complaints about are claims of discrimination on the grounds of race or disability, most typically in employment or education.
Many of those related to access to services, an issue now being considered by Parliament after Dunedin man Joshua Perry lodged a petition calling for improvements in the area.
Ms Tesoriero was not familiar with Mr Perry's petition, but aware of the cause of his frustration.
"Waiting times for modifications, waiting times for access to different services, are issues that people highlight with me on a regular basis.
"Making sure that people have the right support at the right time is critical, so I will read that petition with interest."
The 2013 Census recorded about 24% of New Zealanders with some form of disability, a figure Ms Tesoriero - a gold medal-winning, world record-setting cyclist at the 2008 Beijing Summer Paralympics - suspected was greater now thanks to the ageing population and population growth.
"We need to do much better in New Zealand about making sure we understand the disability community," she said.
"It is difficult to know if the right people are getting the right support, and one of my top priority areas is around data and making sure that disabled people are counted, so that we count."
While there had been some progress on disability rights, 38% of young disabled New Zealanders were not involved with education or training, the unemployment rate for disabled people was twice that of of non disabled people, disabled people's health outcomes were often worse, and they did not fare well in wellbeing statistics.
Next year, New Zealand will be examined for compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and Ms Tesoriero expected the country would not score well.
"We have a really long way to go in New Zealand to fulfil the expectations of the UNCRPD," she said.
"As a population group disabled people are not doing as well as we ought to be doing, and that's something I don't think we talk about enough, to really create a national awareness of how far we have to go."
