I read this yesterday:
Over 40% of parents of children and young people on the autism spectrum report that their children have been bullied at school, rising to 59% of children and young people with high functioning autism and Asperger syndrome.
http://www.autism.org.uk/get-involved/campaign-for-change/education.aspx
So basically, as high-functioning children are the ones that are by majority going to be the ones in mainstream, they are clearly getting bullied because of being integrated with NT children.
I don't agree with integration in schools. For a lot of reasons. Because the staff rarely have the right knowledge to support an ASC child. Because schools as a whole often don't deal with bullying adequately, which means that a child who already has special needs also has to suffer from bullying on top. Because the environment in mainstream is anathema to what an ASC child needs because of sensory issues and anxiety. Because mainstream schools focus on academics at the expense of the wellbeing of the child. And more.
I'm sure there are odd success stories about ASC children getting the right support and thriving in mainstream, but on the whole I think it's wrong. I think there should be specific schools for children with HFA/AS as their needs cannot be met properly in special schools for more severely autistic children, or mainstream.
Their disability is under-accommodated because of having average-high IQ and good verbals skills. That doesn't mean that their other autistic traits aren't just as problematic as a lower functioning child. And yet the expectations on them are to be entirely "normal" in school, to perform normally in the face of sensory issues and anxiety, to perform normally socially in groups and to not have their academics affected adversely. The strain of that is substantial.
No amount of integrating into mainstream will ever fit a square peg into a round hole. No amount of mainstream education will make you not autistic and make or even necessarily help you, to function "normally" in society when you have finished your education.
I think the NAS should campaign for a school in every large town that caters solely for HFA/AS children.