Bullys have been and will always be around, simple as that. However I do believe as time gos on teachers learn how to better handle and protect kids with disability's. We keep learning more and more about disability's hence we learn new ways to deal with it. However I see your only 24, I doubt much has changed in that short of time. I just graduated and most teachers in my school I dont feel really understood Autism or knew how to deal with it. I can re-call some cases where teachers would laugh at autistic kids in my school.
In fact one memory sticks out very vivid to me. When I was in the 8th grade I went to math tutoring after school twice a week. It was always me and this other kids who had full out Autism, not aspergers but still on the spectrum. Our normal teacher was very good with kids like us, however for whatever reason she couldnt teach us one day and we had to go to another teacher that day. He gave us a problem to work on the board and I did it, showed him and he said I was right. Then looked at the other kid and told me he didnt even want to deal with "that" today. not even kidding his words. He knew he had autism but did not know I had AS.
I know he was a very smart teacher, fact of the mater is not all teachers are good with special needs kids.