Age relations turned upside down? Physical, moral, and socio-technical challenges in chronic illness

In everyday life, civil, biological, and legal age categories mostly go unnoticed. Only a particular event or situation is likely to break the normal course of activities and highlight expected social behaviors according to one’s date of birth, biological age, and period of life (childhood, adolescence, adulthood, old age). Chronic illness is one such experience that disrupts age classifications at the inter- and intra-generational levels. This article analyzes how adults with Steinert’s neuromuscular disease cope with the bodily, material, emotional, and moral challenges that can lead to the confirmation, reaffirmation, or revision of age categories.