Chris Norris

Chris Norris lives in Ashford with his wife Rachael. In December, 2012, at the age of 58, he was diagnosed with Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) This is a rare form of dementia which is more common below the age of 65. Those below 65 are said to have Young Onset Dementia. Due to this diagnosis, he was no longer able to work.
In his working life, he was a musician in the Army, a Village Policeman and a Driving Examiner among other occupations.

He has been a KMPT Service User Envoy since 2015 and, as such, he endeavours to promote understanding around the subject of dementia both in the NHS and general public. He speaks at Conferences and Seminars and at a variety of organisations nationally and locally.

In 2016, Chris was presented with the Dementia Friendly Kent Award for Inspirational Volunteer and in June, 2019, he was presented with the KMPT Volunteer of the Year Award. Chris has also been appointed as an Alzheimer’s Society Ambassador.

He is a very active member of the East Kent Forget Me Nots. This is a proactive group consisting of people living with dementia, promoting understanding and working for change around the stigma about dementia.

He, alongside 7 other authors living with dementia, was involved in writing a book, “Welcome to Our World”. The book is an eclectic mix of stories and anecdotes from the 8 authors about experiences in their lives prior to dementia and their journeys thus far through the weird and varied landscape of dementia.

Chris is a great advocate and promotor of living as well as you can following a diagnosis of dementia. He works hard to demonstrate how people can help themselves and others to find ways of developing coping strategies. He say’s “Dementia comes in CANS. You have to focus on what you CAN do”.

His daily mantra is the famous Winston Churchill quote of “Never, never, never give up”!