In The Politics of Autism, I write about social services, special education, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 7.5 million children 3 to 21 years old received services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in AY 2022-23.
About 980,000 of them were autistic, up from 498,000 in 2012-13.
The Trump administration is halving the staff of the Department of Education.
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon announced that the founder of an Arizona charter school network for autistic students would temporarily join the Trump administration to help expand school choice options for students with disabilities.
During an April 25 visit to the Phoenix campus of Arizona Autism Charter Schools, McMahon said she hoped to diminish the “regulatory hurdles” for individuals looking to launch charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately run, while maintaining federal funding streams that support those efforts even as she seeks to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education at the direction of President Donald Trump.
During McMahon's visit, it was announced that Diana Diaz-Harrison, who founded Arizona Autism Charter Schools in 2013 after her son was diagnosed with autism, was named deputy assistant secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services within the Education Department.
Diaz-Harrison said that in the new role, she would help create more programs nationwide for children on the autism spectrum, including by helping launch charter schools like hers.
Diaz-Harrison said in joining the Trump administration, she would celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the federal law that guarantees students nationwide with a free and appropriate public education, and “create IDEA 2.0 to support more families, parents and professionals seeking to create programs that really specialize and cater, while supporting also our district partners in elevating their programming in special needs.”
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McMahon and the Education Department are currently facing a lawsuit from families over the gutting of the Office for Civil Rights staff, including from a parent who had contacted the Office for Civil Rights over the use of restraint and seclusion on her autistic child but later found that the regional office handling her case had closed due to the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the agency. A group of Democratic senators recently sent a letter to McMahon with concerns about how the effort to dismantle the department would impact students with disabilities.
