NOSSA Response to Mangano comments

Statement regarding the Nebraska child molestation case:

"Mr. Joe Mangano's statements are disgusting. We at NOSSA disagree with Mr. Joe Mangano 100% and he has been removed from his position as Secretary with the National Organization of Short Statured Adults. Our organization is appalled by the judge's decision in this case. We apologize for the pain that Joe Mangano has caused. Many people have already formed a negative opinion of our group because of Mr. Joe Mangano. The media has made harsh accusations before getting all the facts. Please be aware the remaining Trustees of our organization have taken the following actions in response to this matter:

1 - Joe Mangano no longer serves as Secretary of NOSSA.
2 - An official apology has been sent on behalf of the organization to various individuals and organizations affected by Mr. Joe Mangano's comments.
3 - A letter has been sent to Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning in support of the maximum penalty for Mr. Thompson.
4 - A donation will be made on behalf of the organization to Nebraska Children and Families Foundation.

Please let us know if we can do more to help. We are so very sorry for Mr. Joe Mangano comments. We hope that this negative incident will not overshadow the good work that we do in support of short statured people. Thank you.

Official Statement

Mr. Joe Mangano's statements are disgusting. We at NOSSA disagree with Mr. Joe Mangano 100% and he has been removed from his position as Secretary with the National Organization of Short Statured Adults. We apologize for the pain he has caused. The future of our organization is uncertain. But you can rest assured that the good people who came together to help short statured adults will never be silenced. We will continue to speak out against heightism regardless of the final outcome of this situation.

The position of NOSSA

Some people mistakenly believe that we are promoting a 'victim mentality'. These people are misunderstanding the position of the National Organization of Short Statured Adults. We encourage our members to take responsibility for their own lives, and we remind them that although we can not always control our circumstances in life, we can always control our response. Our mission is not to promote hostility or anger against those who discriminate against us. Rather, our mission is to educate them; to empower short statured people; to give short statured people assistance wherever and whenever it is needed.

Podcast - Standing Tall Against Discrimination

NOSSA will release it's new podcast program, "Standing Tall Against Discrimination" in July of 2006. Series host Matt C. will launch the new podcast with an episode entitled, "New Beginnings." Matt will discuss the road ahead for the National Organization of Short Statured Adults, and also speculations on the heightism debate in society with guests Chris Hamre and Joe Mangano. The program will air at www.nossaonline.org and also on the official NOSSA blog at http://heightism.blogspot.com

I am not a child

To whom it may concern,

I am not a child.

I am a grown adult. I have paid my dues and earned the right to be treated just like any other adult. I have loved and have had my heart broken. I have experienced all the trials and tribulations of adulthood. I have busted my butt at work. I have survived the onslaught of mounting bills. I have struggled to stay afloat.

How dare you treat me as if I was some punk kid. As if I was inexperienced and incapable of handling any real responsibilities. How dare you talk down to me. Treat me as if I was insignificant. Treat me as if I was immature and naive.

I am no longer afraid to speak up. I am not ashamed to bring attention to myself. I have kept quiet for far too long. What good can come of keeping this all bottled up inside. No, I am not going to let you off the hook that easy. I am going to make you accountable for your actions. I have a complaint and I will shout it out for the world to hear. And if you want to laugh at me I will endure your laughs. Before you know it the laughing will eventually stop. And the listening will begin. So here I am and I'm ready to proclaim,

I am not a child.

- Anonymous

NOSSA Activist of the Year (2006)

NOSSA has awarded Steven Goldsmith, editor of the Short Support website and Treasurer of the National Organization of Short Statured Adults, with the Heightism Activist of the Year award for 2006. Mr. Goldsmith is a pioneer in the effort to discuss the issue of heightism openly and provide support and encouragement to all folks of short stature. The National Organization of Short Statured Adults wishes to express our sincere gratitude and respect to Mr. Goldsmith for his hard work and dedication to this cause.

http://www.shortsupport.org

I don't want to make an issue out of it.

A short man posts, "The problem is no (or vanishingly few) short men are proud of the fact that they are short. People can stand up easily to say they are black, a woman, or gay and proud of it. They are willing to proclaim this publically,encouraging their comrades to be equally forthright in condemnation of the prejudice that afflicts them. As a result, very few shorter men will have the courage to say "I'm short. I get problems from many people because of it." Shortness is perceived by society generally as a weakness, and many short men will also feel this about themselves. It is something they want to pretend doesn't exist, or at least doesn't apply to themselves. The last thing to do would be to bring attention to oneself over the fact." - Will this ever change? Will you be the rare short person with the courage to stand tall against discrimination? Can we learn to be proud of who we are...short height and all?

Real Life Experience

My father and I come from opposite ends of the political spectrum. I am on the left, and he is to the extreme right. He has always dismissed discrimination complaints as wild exaggerations from lazy people seeking a free ride. He has no interest in the rights of blacks, jews, women, or gays. Why should he? He is an upper-class, catholic, straight, white male. But something happened to him in his older years, which made him (only for a brief moment) aware of what it's like to be a victim of discrimination, and to see life from another angle. After his retirement and well into his 60's, he applied for a position with a large company. I will not get into the specifics, but he was denied employment and the facts of the case led him to believe that he was a victim of age discrimination. He was infuriated. After all, he had absolutely no control over his age. How could this happen to him? His outrage turned to activism and he filed complaints with both the EEOC and his elected representatives. But his complaints, for the most part, fell on deaf ears. He soon realized that this sort of thing happens, and when it does, there is little that can be done about it, even when there are laws on the books. People dismiss such claims as meritless, even when there is merit. They dismiss victims of discrimination as exaggerators or spiteful people seeking to punish employers for failing to hire them. The fact of the matter is, the EEOC wrapped up his case in a few days. Do you know what they did? They talked to the employer and then rendered their decision. Did they expect the employer to admit they committed age discrimination? Hardly an "investigation" in any sense of the word. I'm sorry my father had to experience this. It sure sucks doesn't it Dad? He still believes height discrimination is ridiculous. But then again, he has never experienced that for himself....

Arguments against heightism discussions

I've heard the arguments against our cause. "Heightism is real, but trivial." "Spare me the liberal victim mentality." "This is nothing that a little confidence and a positive attitude can't cure." "This is all in your head." Blah, Blah, Blah....

We at NOSSA are preparing to put these beliefs to a test. Is this really a trivial matter? Can heightism be eradicated with a change of attitude? Is this really all in our heads?
Please join us as we tackle this issue at http://www.nossaonline.org

Thank You Michael

UK Activist Michael Calwell is a pioneer in the movement to bring heightism to light. He states, "I have detected a seam of prejudice running through the whole of society regarding short people, short men especially. It involves a whole bunch of perceptions regarding physical and emotional strength, intelligence, competence, leadership and judgement. It's in the media, in people's minds, in the workplace - almost everywhere. And it's damaging and hurting countless decent, strong, able and intelligent people. " "I've never had, or will have a chip on my shoulder about my height. All I'm trying to do is challenge the assumptions people make about short people. I no more want to be taller than I want to be a fish. " Speaking to members of the Tall Club he states, "Does society look at you and say "They're so insecure, they've set up a club". No. But the minute I start talking about shortness, I have that kind of abuse hurled at me. Of course, that's par for the course when fighting prejudice. I can live with that. That's just part of the prejudice. Black people were called 'uppity n*ggers' when they confronted a white society with its bigotry. Heaven knows what abuse was hurled at the Pankhursts."

Righteous Anger

I was watching a Bill Maher comedy special recently and Maher started off the show by telling the audience, "I am angry about alot of things. I'll tell you what I'm mostly pissed off about. I'm mostly pissed off that not enough people are pissed off."
-Matt

short story

One time in college I was assigned to complete a group project for class. The group consisted of several people, including a white male who was about 5 foot 10 and a rather confident ex-military guy who was about 5 foot 4 inches tall. The short ex-military guy was very assertive and confident. He was a natural leader and he quickly tried to gain control of the group and lead us. He succeeded and was able to lead us to the completion of the project.
He was hated by the other members of the group. I had no feelings towards him. I simply wanted to graduate with a good grade. One day, the 5 foot 10 inch white male I mentioned earlier, started to make fun of the guy to the other members of the group (after the short guy had left). He started making a squeaking mouse voice and he pretended to imitate the guy. "C'mon guys" he squeaked. "I know what to do. I'm a little twerp." He said. Everybody started laughing but me. I remember looking at the guy and he had this look of anger and disgust in his eyes. I really saw that it bothered him to be led by someone who he felt superior to. I never forgot that moment.

Where are we headed

NOSSA is a united organization of short men and women from around the globe, committed to opposing heightism in society, providing a supportive environment in which to share experiences, and promoting the message of self-empowerment for all of its members.

-Disseminate knowledge pertaining to the sociological, psychological, legal, medical, and physiological aspects of short stature as it becomes known.
-Encourage research by responsible professionals concerning the above aspects of short stature.
-To promote the acceptance of people of short stature in society.
-Serve as a forum in which important problems affecting short statured adults can be openly discussed in a climate unbiased by imposed aesthetic standards and in which solutions to these problems can be discovered and acted upon.
-Work toward demanding equal opportunity for short statured adults wherever obstacles and discrimination exist.

Organization Objectives
Immediate Objectives - Media Attention on topic of heightism.
Attainable Objectives - Growing International Membership.
Visionary Objectives - International Awareness and open dialogue.

Happy Holidays from NOSSA

Wishing everyone a very safe and happy holiday season. - From NOSSA - National Organization of Short Statured Adults.

Short Unity

Is it really such a radical idea to promote unity for short statured adults? After all, there are hundreds of tall groups out there for tall people www.tall.org

It can be lonely being short

We get so many emails from short men who complain about how difficult it is to find a woman who is interested. It is sad how pervasive this bias is against short statured men. Is this a prejudice or simple preference? What is so terrible about short height in a man?

Is Short Stature a disease?

Short People
By Miriam Schulman
At 5 feet, 1/4 inch, I admit to a vested interest when I criticize the recent FDA approval of using human growth hormone to treat "short stature" of unknown origin. The ruling allows doctors to prescribe the biosynthesized hormone Humatrope to children with projected heights of 4 feet 11 inches for women, 5 feet 3 inches for men, even if the cause of their shortness is undiagnosed.
In my case, the cause of my stature is pretty clear: My paternal grandmother was 4feet 9 inches, and several of my aunts and cousins have never grazed the 5 foot mark. In fact, I'm a giant at family reunions.
I'm not going to say our stature never caused us any problems. When I go grocery shopping, I often have to find some nice tall person to reach the Cheerios, and I had a car once that I could only drive with a pillow behind me. I'm also fairly certain that if I raised myself up to my full height?which is what the trail signs say to do if you encounter a bobcat?it wouldn't do much to intimidate the wildlife.
This is not meant to trivialize the problems that face Little People (the preferred term used by those with dwarfism, sometimes defined as adult height below 4 feet 10 inches). Many cannot reach an automatic teller, elevator button, credit card reader at the gas pump, vending machine, or public pay phone. Many also have orthopedic problems related to their dwarfism that certainly qualify as disabilities. And many?Little and short people alike?are the targets of discrimination based on their size.
But the FDA decision does medicalize normally occurring shortness in ways that I think should give us pause. In "treating" shortness, we tread the dividing line between medical care that cures diseases and medical care that seeks to enhance the characteristics of otherwise healthy individuals. As scientific research opens up the possibility of making us all taller, smarter, faster, we have to ask whether, at some very basic level, that makes us better.
It's also important to note that, in many cases, we will be making these decisions for our children. Growth hormone, for example, has to be administered to pre-school age youngsters. Parents will be guessing that the extra 3 to 4 inches will give their child important advantages that the child him- or herself would want.
Primarily, as I read it, parents are not worrying so much that their children's feet won't reach the accelerator pedal; they're more concerned that their children will not be taken seriously, will not rise to the top of their professions, will be discriminated against because of their height.
Let us say they are right. Is that sufficient reason to "treat" shortness? What about the other causes of discrimination? Should we "treat" dark skin coloring? Should we "treat" homosexuality?
Although it's an imperfect analogy, I'd like to argue that we should approach enhancement as we would any other technology that reduces biodiversity. There's inherent good in preserving differences among people, just as there is in preserving differences among species. When we set up a particular constellation of characteristics as normative and try to medicate everyone into conformity with them, who knows what we will lose?in the strength of character people develop as they cope with their differences, in the perspectives they bring to our common problems, in the advantages they may offer, which we, with our puny knowledge of human biological complexity, can not yet begin to fathom.

Women biased against short men

Women will take just about any shortcoming in a man, except inthe height department, according to Andrea McGinty, who foundedthe San Diego-based dating service It's Just Lunch.McGinty helped ABCNEWS put together an experiment to test justhow willing women are to date shorter men. We brought togetherseveral short men and asked them to stand next to taller men.We invited groups of women to look at the men and choose a date.To see if the women would go for short guys who were successful,ABCNEWS' Lynn Sherr created extraordinary résumés for the shortermen. She told the women that the shorter men included a doctor,a best-selling author, a champion skier, a venture capitalistwho'd made millions by the age of 25.Nothing worked. The women always chose the tall men. Sherr askedwhether there'd be anything she could say that would make theshortest of the men, who was 5 feet, irresistible. One of thewomen replied, "Maybe the only thing you could say is that theother four are murderers." Another backed her up, saying thathad the taller men had a criminal record she might have beenswayed to choose a shorter man. Another said she'd haveconsidered the shorter men, if the taller men had beendescribed as "child molesters."

Unity For Short Statured Adults

Short statured adults now have a human rights organization to serve their needs. NOSSA - National Organization of Short Statured Adults. http://www.nossaonline.org

Heightism Messageboards

Finally, a means to gain awareness. A place to discuss the issue of heightism in an open forum. http://heightism.aimoo.com