Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Sins Invalid

Contact Us
Donate

In Memory and Power: Patty Berne

Image Description: Patty Berne,a Japanese-Haitian person with light brown skin, smiles playfully with love and light shining from their brown eyes. They wear an off the shoulder opalescent blue dress and an amethyst pendant. Their brown hair is pulled back into their signature two buns. Behind Patty is a pink background with radiant red and yellow flowers. At the top of the image, iridescent capital letters spell out “PATTY LIVES THROUGH US.” On the bottom right corner is Sins Invalid’s logo, a black rectangular box with white letters that read “Sins Invalid.”

We are heartbroken beyond words. Our beloved Co-Founder, Executive and Artistic Director, Patty Berne, joined the ancestors on May 29, 2025.

In the weeks and months ahead, we will hold spaces to honor and celebrate Patty’s world-shifting legacy. As they would wish: we will mourn, we will make art, we will learn, we will resist—and you will be invited to join us. You are in our hearts.

This is all so hard. For now, you can access our statement below in ASL and English. 

If you are moved to support Sins Invalid in this difficult time, we thank you for your love and generosity. Please find the “DONATE” button in our homepage menu. 

You can contact the Sins Team at pattypresente@sinsinvalid.org

VIEW STATEMENT IN ASL
VIEW STATEMENT IN ENGLISH

An Unshamed Claim to Beauty in the Face of Invisibility.

Sins Invalid is committed to social and economic justice for all people with disabilities.

Our stories lay a foundation for a collective claim of liberation, beauty, and human rights.

Disability Justice

Movement Building

Performance

Image Description: A Latina woman with long dark hair sits in a wheelchair on a bright red rug against a black background. Her head is lifted to her left, her shoulder raised so it almost touches her lips. She wears a brown top with silver sequins down the front, black bra straps showing, and brown leather boots with buckles on them, her left leg crossed over her right knee. One hand is between her legs, the other hand extended down with fingers spread by her knee.

Image Description: A Black person with short dreads wearing a white one-piece unitard leans to the left with legs spread, their back to the camera. They hold a white scarf outstretched in their left hand. Watery blue and white images are projected onto the scarf and their body.

Image Description: : A fat white Jewish femme wears a tight green bejeweled bodice and a turquoise mermaid tail, with ribbons cascading from their hair and wrists, in front of a watery blue background.

Image Description: A Latina woman with long dark hair sits in a wheelchair on a bright red rug against a black background. Her head is lifted to her left, her shoulder raised so it almost touches her lips. She wears a brown top with silver sequins down the front, black bra straps showing, and brown leather boots with buckles on them, her left leg crossed over her right knee. One hand is between her legs, the other hand extended down with fingers spread by her knee.
A Black person with short dreads wearing

Image Description: A Black person with short dreads wearing a white one-piece unitard leans to the left with legs spread, their back to the camera. They hold a white scarf outstretched in their left hand. Watery blue and white images are projected onto the scarf and their body.

Image Description: : A fat white Jewish femme wears a tight green bejeweled bodice and a turquoise mermaid tail, with ribbons cascading from their hair and wrists, in front of a watery blue background.