A/HRC/4/29 page 8 structures and services, and specifically the lack of financial viability of special schools.11 It has further been suggested that inclusive education can be both cost-efficient and cost-effective.12 14. True access is, as noted by the predecessor of the Special Rapporteur, a vital component of the right to education for students with and without disabilities and implicates factors both external and personal to each student. A combination of unaddressed external and personal factors specific to persons with disabilities has frequently led to a total denial of their access to education, inclusive or otherwise. Simple but effective measures needed to address these factors have been noted elsewhere on numerous occasions. As these measures are too often ignored, a non-exhaustive list, more pertinent to inclusion, is given here with the aim of reiterating their importance. To overcome external factors limiting access to education, they include altering the physical environment, such as the design of hallways and classrooms, desks, widening entrances, building ramps, installation of elevators, altering or reconsidering geographical locations, adapting rules and admission standards; and personal factors, such as the provision of supplementary classes, alternative/additional forms of communication, special tutors or support staff, and nutritious meals. 15. Two disparate but important points are made to conclude this section. First, inclusive education should be viewed under an expansive perspective, embracing lifelong learning, stretching from early childcare to vocational training, basic education for adults to life-skills education for older persons. Secondly, States must both respect the liberty of parents to choose schools for their children with disabilities,13 and the right of those children to express, and have heard, their own views in such matters.14 II. THE RIGHT TO INCLUSIVE EDUCATION NORMATIVE FRAMEWORK 16. The aim of this section is simply to introduce the applicable normative framework of inclusive education: it is by no means exhaustive, as it can readily be found elsewhere. As noted by numerous commentators, States first recognized the human right to education internationally in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948. In 1960, UNESCO adopted its Convention against Discrimination in Education. Several binding 11 Peters, Susan J., Inclusive Education: An EFA Strategy for All Children, World Bank, November 2004 (available at http//:www.worldbank.org), quoted in OECD, 1994; OECD, 1995; OECD, 1999; OECD, 2000; O’Toole and McConkey (1995), Innovations in Developing Countries for People with Disabilities; EURYDICE, 2003. 12 Skrtic, quoted by Susan Peters, T.M. (1991). “The special education paradox: equity as the way to excellence”, Harvard Educational Review, 61 (2), pp. 148-206. 13 14 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, art. 13, para. 3. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, art. 7, para. 3, and Convention on the Rights of the Child, arts. 2 and 12.