The National Organization of Short Statured Adults (NOSSA) was an American non-profit advocacy group for adults of short stature. The organization clearly defined "short stature" to be men 170 cm (5'7") or below and women 157.5 cm (5'2") or below in height. The group advocated on behalf of short people and hoped to foster greater acceptance of short people within society. NOSSA was opposed to the prejudice known as heightism. The group defined heightism as, "a prejudiced attitude about human height that often results in discrimination. It is based on the belief that short stature is an inferior trait and therefore undesirable." The organization ran a series of public education programs, sponsored height-related research, acted as a media "watch-dog" group, provided legal assistance for those affected by heightism, hosted online discussion groups, and invited members to gather once a year for an annual convention. NOSSA ended in early 2013 due to lack of support.
History
NOSSA was formed in New York City in 2005. The organization is run by a four-person board of directors (trustees) who are elected to serve four-year terms in office. In May 2006 the group's secretary made comments in support of a Nebraska judge's decision not to send a short man to jail over child sexual abuse charges, due to a risk of his stature affecting his safety in prison. The organization apologised for the comments and removed the trustee who had made them, as well as making a donation to the Nebraska Children and Families Foundation. Short Support Editor, Steven Goldsmith became the new Secretary. In July 2006, NOSSA began producing a podcast, Standing Tall Against Discrimination. In May 2008, NOSSA was featured in the Canadian Documentary S&M: Short and Male.
HGH controversy
In 2003, The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of human growth hormone (hGH) for children well below the average height with no medically determined cause, also known as idiopathic short stature. GH therapy had been prescribed previously for only medically determined causes of reduced height. Most patients to which this therapy was now made available produce normal levels of growth hormone on their own. Some other biological cause(s) still place these children more than two standard deviations below average height.
NOSSA announced its opposition to the use of human growth hormone for short, but otherwise healthy, children. The organization believes being short isn't a problem; the real difficulties lies in the social bias against short people. In part to define the organization's position on the matter, NOSSA representative and author Ellen Frankel LCSW stated, "What we need is education for those who discriminate against short people, not the genetic engineering of the victims of that prejudice." Frankel states, "The growth hormone deficient child suffers from an underlying medical problem that affects the body's health in different ways. The non-growth-hormone-deficient child has no underlying medical problem. They simply present as a variation on the norm with regard to height. The decision to medically intervene on the healthy child's stature is socially based due to height discrimination and prejudice."
Cosmetic leg lengthening
Leg lengthening is a complex process that has traditionally been performed primarily on children to correct disproportional leg lengths. It has also been an option for people with dwarfism to gain height. More recently, the procedure has been used to give people with constitutional short stature two or three extra inches of height. (Constitutional short stature refers to people who are in the bottom fifth percentile of height in their region and do not display any deformities common with dwarfism.)
NOSSA claims to receive hundreds of e-mails each year from people requesting more information on cosmetic leg lengthening. The group actively discourages short statured people from undergoing leg lengthening solely for cosmetic reasons. The group encourages anyone who is seriously considering the surgery to research the procedure and surgeon thoroughly before undergoing the procedure. NOSSA encourages people to accept and love themselves as they are.