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What isn't maybe so obvious are the reasons why I think that absolutely nobody in society should be denied a mainstream education. That's right - nobody. One of the biggest lessons we learn at school is how to get on with other people - how to integrate and feel part of society. Yes, this can be hard and painful if you happen to be 'different' in any way, but it's this kind of experience that equips you to deal with the real world.

I think it's incredibly important that able-bodied and disabled children grow up side by side. Prejudice and awkwardness come from ignorance, so embracing and understanding differences from the earliest possible age is vital. Children educated in multi-racial schools are less likely to see race as an issue than children who aren't. It's a different debate, I know, but for what it's worth I feel the same is true of single-faith schools. It's human nature to feel at home with what you're used to, just as it is to feel a bit uncomfortable with what you're not.

I know that special needs schools provide a more protective and accepting environment, but that's only looking at things in the short term. Surely being educated in them just delays the point when those young adults have to confront the rest of society? How can we expect them to function happily in the 'normal' world when they've been educated outside it? And how can we expect 'normal' people to relate naturally with them when they've never had the chance to do so during their crucial formative years?

Any kid who stands out - because of their values, their looks, their intelligence, their weight or their height - is likely to have a rough time at school, but we don't send kids like that to special schools. I believe that defining people by what they can't do or by something over which they have no control is bad enough, but to keep them out of mainstream education as a result is just so wrong. No one thinks that having segregated schools for white, black or Asian people or for any other race is a good, healthy idea, do they?

In some cases, of course, children are so severely disabled that they require very special facilities and teaching methods - and mainstream schools, by definition, aren't equipped to cope with them. But why not increase the diversity of pupils at these schools by having able-bodied students there too? Anything to break down the 'them and us' barrier is worth considering, I feel.

So far I've concentrated on the benefits of inclusive schooling for disabled children. But everybody benefits! It's a well-known fact that having to cope with a disability makes you grow up fast. You're forced to learn certain lessons early on and this makes you more mature - at least that's my excuse for having so many friends in their thirties and forties! But seriously, children with disabilities are actually an asset to anyone fortunate enough to spend time with them. What a crime it is to separate them off from society and deny our youngsters and our teachers the chance to learn from their life experience. And who knows? One day, God forbid, someone who grew up being able-bodied might have an accident and become a disabled adult. How valuable will all those years spent with kids of mixed physical abilties be then, as they try coming to terms with what has happened to them? And just think, we'd probably end up with fewer teenagers acting all self-absorbed and confused (OK, the right word is stroppy), thanks to the greater perspective and compassion they'd gain from other young people's unique experience.

Inclusion has to begin from day one, not when people go into higher education or jobs. It's too late then. No amount of political correctness can change attitudes picked up through a whole lifetime. You only have to look around you to see that virtually everything is still designed for the benefit and use of able-bodied people. Non-inclusion in mainstream education has to be a big reason why we still have so many forms of social exclusion. For every ramp available for a wheelchair user, there are loads of inaccessible steps and millions of cashpoints that you can only reach if you have the use of your legs.

I'm sure there would be greater all-round awareness if inclusion began at the nursery, and was carried on right through the schooling years. The brilliant thing about babies and very young children is that they have no prejudices. Inclusion depends on you being present - that's it. They're all equally special, and they all have needs they express openly and without any shame. What better platform on which to start building a richer, fully integrated and tolerant society?