 This view of disabilities as the result of human variations is closely related to the view that disability is a universal human condition (Zola 1989) or shared human identity (L. Davis 2002: Ch. 1). The claim that disability is universal can be taken as nothing more than a prediction that we will all acquire familiar disabilities at some point in our lives. But that claim is better construed as one about the nature of disability; as maintaining that all human beings have physical or mental variations that can become a source of vulnerability or disadvantage in some settings.