Diana Diaz-Harrison

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services

Diana Díaz-Harrison, M.Ed., serves as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, overseeing policy and support for more than seven million students with disabilities. She is the founder and Executive Director of Arizona Autism Charter Schools (AZACS), the state’s first tuition-free, autism-focused charter network, which won the $1 million Yass Prize in 2022 and expanded via a National Accelerator for Autism Charter Schools. Inspired by her own son’s autism diagnosis, Díaz-Harrison established AZACS in 2014 to provide inclusive, high-quality alternatives and now brings that practitioner experience to the national stage.