Patrice has finally found the love of her life, Garry, who is also disabled. They want nothing more than to get married, but if they do – or even if they just move in together – the government benefits they need to survive would be cut. Despite the scrutiny they’re under, they decide to plan a commitment ceremony that could risk their entire future.
While trying to scrape together the money for the ceremony, Patrice’s wheelchair accessible van breaks down and without it, she is forced to quit the job she spent years fighting for. She has to figure out the impossible task of how to replace her van when she can’t have more than $2,000 in her bank account as a condition of the disability benefits she relies on.
While the commitment ceremony is now threatened by the cost of the van, a bill in Congress could finally change the “marriage penalty” – plaguing the lives of Patrice and millions of disabled Americans – and she organizes her friends to rally in support of the bill.
Patrice’s present-day battles are informed by her past. With long-time friend, director Ted Passon, Patrice recreates scenes from her life imbued with her art and her uniquely tragicomic joie de vivre. Starring a cast of children, with Patrice playing herself at every age, we see the struggles Patrice endured to get the house, the job, and the life that she’s now fighting to keep.
Patrice: The Movie premieres on Hulu September 30, 2024.