Bullied at School, Exploited as Adults: The Victimisation of Autistic People

Autistic children and adults are bullied, left out and exploited far more often than the people around them. Two meta-analyses of school bullying estimate that 44% and 67% of autistic pupils have been bullied^[1][2], and it does not end at the school gate: autistic adults report more bullying at work, more bullying by people they thought were friends, and more financial and sexual exploitation^[3]. Research links that treatment to anxiety and depression. What these figures describe is how autistic people are treated, not something wrong with autistic people.

In ordinary life this is the pupil who spends every break walking the edge of the playground, the child whose reactions to noise become something for others to provoke, the teenager who stops going to school rather than face the corridor again. It is the adult whose “friend” only calls when they need money, and the employee who leaves another job because colleagues made it unbearable. Too often the person being hurt is asked to change: to mask, toughen up, fit in. The research points the other way.

At school, autistic pupils are bullied far more than their classmates

Two meta-analyses dedicated to school bullying agree on the direction, if not the exact size. The first, combining 17 studies, estimated that 44% of school-aged autistic young people had been bullied, most often verbally (50%), and found them at greater risk than typically developing peers^[1]. The second, combining 34 studies and searching Japanese and Korean databases as well as English-language ones, put the figure at 67%: verbal bullying 58%, relational (social) bullying 36%, physical 30% and online 15%^[2].

Estimates range widely because studies ask different people different questions over different time frames. In a 2023 review of all kinds of victimisation, studies that asked parents pooled at 63%, against 34% for studies that asked autistic people themselves^[4]. In Taiwan, 26.9% of 219 autistic adolescents (all with IQ above 80) attending child psychiatry clinics said they had been bullied in the past year, and their parents reported it for 52.5% — our sums of the study’s “pure victim” and “perpetrator-victim” groups^[5]. Studies from what the 2020 meta-analysis classed as Eastern countries gave a higher estimate than Western ones, but there were only three such studies^[2].

Different samples, reporters and time frames: not directly comparable. *Our sum of the study’s “pure victim” and “perpetrator-victim” groups.

In the United States’ National Survey of Children’s Health for 2016–2020, parents reported that 68.9% of autistic girls and 64.1% of autistic boys aged 12–17 had been bullied, picked on or excluded by other children, against 29.6% and 22.7% of young people with neither autism nor ADHD — more than twice the rate, on our comparison of the survey’s adjusted figures^[7].

Much of what raises the risk lies in the environment. In England, reports from 722 teachers and 119 parents showed bullying was more likely as pupils got older and when they used public or school transport, and less likely where pupils had positive relationships, attended a special school, or had parents closely engaged with the school^[8]. The 2020 meta-analysis found higher victimisation in inclusive mainstream settings^[2]: a reason to make mainstream schools safer, not to give up on inclusion.

Sometimes the harm comes from adults. In the Taiwanese clinic sample, 11.9% of autistic adolescents had been harassed by a teacher, and they showed more severe depression and anxiety^[9]. In Japan, in the records of 94 autistic children and teenagers seen for school refusal at a university hospital psychiatric clinic, bullying was significantly associated with school refusal in both boys and girls^[10].

It does not stop at the school gate

Far less research follows autistic people into adulthood, but what exists points the same way. The 2023 review pooled six studies of autistic adults and estimated that 66% had experienced some form of victimisation, with very wide uncertainty (31% to 96%)^[4].

The most detailed picture comes from an online survey of 426 autistic and 268 non-autistic adults, two-thirds of them living in the UK^[3]. Besides bullying by friends, 54% of autistic adults had been bullied at work (against 36% of non-autistic adults) and 48% had been tricked or pressured into giving someone money or possessions (20%). Among those who had worked, 49% had left a job because colleagues treated them badly, against 19%. The survey was self-selected and the groups differed in age and sex, so these are indications rather than population rates, though most differences held after adjusting for age and sex. More on work is in our piece on employment and health.

Being targeted by people posing as friends has a name in UK research: “mate crime”^[11]. In a qualitative study of 43 autistic adults victimised or taken advantage of by people close to them, participants described cycles of repeated victimisation, difficulty trusting themselves and others, and finding it hard to say no or to recognise manipulative intentions^[11]. Those are openings that other people choose to exploit. A small Toronto study of 45 autistic and 42 non-autistic adults found that differences in social communication and emotion regulation did not explain the autistic adults’ higher risk of victimisation^[12].

Sexual violence: higher rates, and too little done when it is reported

The evidence on sexual victimisation is thinner, but the sources we found point to higher risk. In the Crime Survey for England and Wales for the three years ending March 2018, 9.0% of adults aged 16–59 with a “social or behavioural” impairment (an Office for National Statistics category whose examples include autism) had experienced sexual assault, including attempts, in the past year, against 1.9% of non-disabled adults^[13]. In the adult survey above, 44% of autistic respondents had been pressured into sexual activity, against 23% of non-autistic respondents^[3].

In France, an online survey of 225 autistic women found that 88.4% reported sexual violence on a standardised questionnaire, two-thirds of them first when aged 18 or under. A third reported it, and for three-quarters of those, reporting led to no action^[14]. The sample was self-selected, but the authors’ conclusion is plain: it would be “erroneous to consider that victimization of autistic women is mainly due to autism”. A Swedish twin study of 4,500 children found that girls with parent-rated autism in childhood had what the authors call an almost threefold increased risk of coercive sexual victimisation by 18 (for boys the association was similar in size but not statistically significant); the link was with neurodevelopmental differences generally rather than autism specifically, and the authors speculate that perpetrators actively target neurodivergent young people^[15].

Being bullied is linked to anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts

A 2026 meta-analysis of nine studies covering 3,647 autistic people found that experiencing violence or victimisation was associated with more internalising symptoms, such as depression and anxiety, and with suicidal thoughts and behaviour — both moderate-sized associations^[16]. In South London, among 680 autistic adolescents using mental health services, those whose records mentioned bullying in their first month of contact had a higher rate of later recorded suicidal thoughts or behaviour (hazard ratio 1.82)^[17]. The link held after accounting for several social and clinical factors, but was no longer statistically significant once overall day-to-day functioning was taken into account.

None of this means that being autistic leads to suicide, or that harm is inevitable. It means bullying is a risk that schools and services can see and act on, and that support helps. The London researchers called for anti-bullying work to become part of suicide prevention for autistic young people^[17]; our summary of suicide research covers the wider evidence.

The same pattern appears for anxiety and depression. In the US survey, parents reported current anxiety for 69% of autistic girls who had been bullied against 30.5% of those who had not, and 57.8% against 29.3% for autistic boys; the increase linked to bullying was significantly larger than among young people with neither autism nor ADHD^[7]. These are cross-sectional data: anxiety may make a young person a target as well as follow from being one.

Following children over time helps with direction. In a birth cohort in Bristol, England, children with social communication difficulties at age 7 had a higher risk of depression at 18 (adjusted relative risk 1.68), and the researchers estimated that about half of that association (50.5%, with a very wide confidence interval of 5.5% to 95.5%) ran through being bullied between ages 8 and 13^[18]. Bullying is not the only route to poor mental health, but it is one that can be prevented.

What works: changing the environment, not the autistic child

A large international meta-analysis found that school anti-bullying programmes reduced bullying perpetration by about 19–20% and victimisation by about 15–16%. A follow-up analysis of the same programmes found that reductions in perpetration were larger where programmes included a whole-school approach, anti-bullying policies, classroom rules, information for parents, informal peer involvement and work with those being bullied; for victimisation, informal peer involvement and information for parents stood out^[19]. These programmes were tested in general school populations; researchers have called for inclusion-focused approaches to be tested with autistic pupils^[17].

What evidence there is points towards changing the peer environment. In a randomised trial across 30 schools in the Los Angeles area, training classmates to include autistic children improved the autistic children’s standing in classroom social networks, increased how often classmates named them as a friend and reduced time alone on the playground, with gains lasting three months. Working with classmates moved autistic children into more central social roles than working with the autistic child alone^[20].

Attitudes can shift too. In a study led by Canadian researchers, 151 high-school students rated autistic adults less favourably than non-autistic adults, but a 50-minute presentation about autistic people’s everyday experiences produced modest improvements — a route, the authors note, to better interactions “without putting the onus on autistic individuals to change or mask their behavior and identity”^[21]. In Scotland, a feasibility study of Learning About Neurodiversity at School (LEANS), a primary-school classroom programme, found pupils in seven classrooms learned about neurodiversity and showed more positive attitudes and intended actions; a full evaluation is still needed^[22].

Guidance for schools in England from the Anti-Bullying Alliance, developed with input from autistic young people, says a “multi-layered, whole school approach is likely to be most effective”. It asks schools to “support autistic young people to be themselves rather than feeling they must change or fit in to be like others”, and reminds them that the Equality Act 2010 requires reasonable adjustments for autistic pupils^[23].

What the evidence asks of us

• Make bullying of autistic pupils a whole-school responsibility. The strongest evidence is for whole-school programmes with clear policies, informed parents and peer involvement^[19]; guidance adds autism understanding for everyone, more structured break times and reasonable adjustments^[23]. Schools should monitor bullying of autistic pupils to know whether it is falling.
• Listen to autistic young people. Their reports and their parents’ can differ sharply; in the Taiwanese study, young people’s own reports were the ones linked to depression and anxiety^[5].
• Ask about bullying in mental health care. US researchers recommend routine bullying and mental-health screening for autistic young people^[7]; the London researchers want anti-bullying work built into suicide prevention^[17].
• Recognise exploitation in adulthood. Safeguarding, social care and police need to recognise mate crime, financial exploitation and coercion; the adult survey’s authors call for better support, advice and advocacy services^[3]. In a study of 102 autistic people, those who sought help often met professionals, including police, who knew little about autism; participants wanted autistic-run support groups and wider autism education^[24].
• Act when sexual violence is reported. When most reports lead to no action^[14], the failure lies with institutions, not with the person who came forward.
• Fill the research gaps. Most studies come from high-income countries and few follow autistic adults^[4]. Funders should back research on adults and in low- and middle-income countries, and trials of anti-bullying programmes that report outcomes for autistic pupils.

Language: this piece uses identity-first language (“autistic people”), the preference of most autistic-led organisations, and uses clinical terms such as “autism spectrum disorder” only when naming a study or diagnostic category.

Why we're publishing this

Health Insurance UK is a commercial health-insurance resource, not a charity and not a campaign. We compiled this evidence because autistic people, their families and autistic-led organisations have long said that bullying, exclusion and exploitation shape autistic lives and health, and they deserve the research behind that case clean, current and in one place. The case belongs to the community living it. Our part is to stand alongside it and say plainly what the figures show: the problem is how autistic people are treated, and the people and institutions around them can change that. More is in the Autism & Health research library.

How to read this data

Meta-analyses pool studies that used different questions, reporters (parents, teachers or autistic people themselves) and time frames, which is why school estimates range from 44% to 67%; estimates from different reviews are not a trend. The adult, French and qualitative studies recruited volunteers, so they show patterns rather than population rates, and the Office for National Statistics category includes other conditions alongside autism. Effect measures differ: 2.35 is an odds ratio, the Bristol figure a relative risk, the London figure a hazard ratio, and the 2026 meta-analysis reports standardised effect sizes. “More than twice the rate” and the Taiwanese totals are our own calculations from published figures. Most links with mental health come from cross-sectional studies and do not on their own show cause. Most research comes from high-income countries, mainly the US, UK, Canada, Australia and Taiwan, and far less covers adults or autistic people with an intellectual disability. This is a summary of published research, not new research.

Use this data

Free to cite with attribution to Health Insurance UK. Charities, campaigners and journalists are welcome to reuse these figures and charts. For the underlying figures as a spreadsheet, get in touch.

Important: This article summarises published research for general information. It is not medical advice and cannot be used to diagnose, treat or predict anything about an individual. If you have concerns about your own or someone else's health, please speak to a qualified health professional.

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