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This chapter presents background and an introduction to the lifecourse- and ageing approach of the book. With focus on biography, ageing, and long lives with disability, the key questions of the book are presented, including: what does it mean to live a long life and to age with a physical or mental disability? How have the lives of disabled people been affected by an era marked by disability reforms and identity politics? What does it mean to be an ageing parent and continue to care for an adult disabled child? How are we to understand couplehood in the case when both parties are disabled? Methodological issues related to the studying of individual lives in historical contexts are raised. The historical conditions that form the time frame of the studies referred to in the book are presented and an overview of the development of disability policies in Europe is given.

This chapter focuses on the long life with disability and the impact of age and time on the shaping of this lifecourse. The discussion builds on results from a prospective study in which a group of chronically ill visually impaired people were followed for 30 years, through repeated interviews and where the framework was employment and life after retirement. The chapter argues that these themes are shaped by the gradually failing and unpredictable body, which has to do with disabling consequences of chronic illness. The unpredictable body implies living with uncertainty about “time left”. This entails particular experiences which also influence the lived experience of old age. A conclusion drawn is that the bodily and temporal dimensions studied are complex: time with illness and disability, age, ‘time left’, and relational time − all these dimensions are interwoven in complex ways and according to changing patterns, in the studied lives, which are marked by illness complications and gradual functional loss.

This chapter provides a summary and concluding remarks on some salient themes that have been examined in the previous chapters. For example the chapter discusses the relevance of the lifecourse approach and – at the same time – the challenges that this approach entails, not least when it comes to capturing the interplay between biographical and historical time. It also highlights the intersection between age and disability and brings to the fore the difficulties connected with separating the experience of ageing from the experience of a long life with disability. It is argued that concepts such as third age, fourth age and successful ageing fail to fully capture the experience of ageing. At the same time, it is argued that the lifecourse approach adopted in the book challenges the social model as the sole framework to understanding disability. Furthermore, the chapter discusses the multifaceted meaning of care in the context of disability and ageing.