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What it Means to be an American | Sarah Jane O'Connor | TEDxDeerfield

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What do I think it means to be an American?

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What do I think it means to be an American?

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I think that being an American means that everyone is equal and everyone gets a fair opportunity. However, I also think that as Americans we haven't accomplished our American identity. I think that the discrimination throughout the United States is holding us back from achieving that. I think that if problems such as equality, aftermath of soldiers, and leadership is fixed then we will be able to achieve equality through all.

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What does it mean to be an American in the eyes of children

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What does it mean to be an American in the eyes of children

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What does it mean to be an American? | Scholastic.com

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Why equality is important in daily lives

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Why equality is important in daily lives

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The Public Value Compass is Cube's way of modeling the key individual and community outcomes of public value. This blog is the second in a monthly series that looks at and explores each of the outcomes in detail.
Living in a fair and equal society

You see a job advertised that you know you're qualified for, and you're confident that the process will be merit based. Your name, gender or race will have no bearing on whether you get the job, or even an interview. After all, everyone in Australia is treated fairly aren't they? Aren't fairness and equality the foundation of Australian society and culture, enshrined in law and lived out everyday?

This is a typical example of how the belief in equality and fairness can affect everyday decisions made by every Australian. If people don't believe they will be treated fairly because of who they are or where they come from they are likely not to apply for the job, meaning the organisation misses out on a diversity of candidates, and is worse off in the long-term by simply hiring someone just like the person who was in the job previously.

A belief in equality and fairness, or lack thereof, doesn't just affect big decisions, it can also affect:

Daily decisions about where we shop

Whether we ask for help from government services such as police and health providers

Where we send our children to school; and

How much we participate in communities.

At Cube Group, individual confidence in equality, fairness and opportunity is a key public value outcome on our Public Value Compass. This blog explores this public value outcome in more detail.

Why is Equality and Fairness important as a public value outcome?

Our society is founded on the idea of fairness and equality. Under the law, every person in Australia has the right to equal and fair treatment, independent of their gender, race, sexual orientation, age, religious beliefs or any other personal characteristic.

Truly equal and fair societies are more likely to be prosperous and harmonious ones. Failure to tackle discrimination and to provide equal opportunities hurts individuals and families, negatively impacts our society, and costs the economy. For example, a 2009 Goldman Sachs study, Australia's Hidden Resource found that if Australian women participated at roughly the same rate as men there would be an 11 per cent increase in GDP. To put this into perspective, the most recent Australian federal budget forecast a 2.5 to 3.5 per cent increase in GDP over the next two years. Imagine if everyone in our society was able to participate equally!

Crucially, a society that is fair and equal also helps improve all other public value outcomes. For example:

Liveability - people feel socially connected to their community and are able to participate in social economic and educational activities.

Productivity - people who are treated fairly and have equal opportunity are better able to contribute socially and economically to the community, and to enhance growth and prosperity.

Confidence - an equal and fair society is likely to be safer by reducing entrenched social and economic disadvantage.

How is equality and fairness currently addressed in Australia?

Australia currently relies heavily on legislation, statutory authorities and the justice system to embed equality and fairness in our society, and has a strong and proud history of adopting international law pertaining to equality and rights of all people. In 1948, Australia adopted the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, after playing an active role in its development. Since then, we have signed seven other major international human rights treaties that provide a framework for our own legislation regarding equality.

At a national level, the Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986 helps Australia implement its human rights obligations, supported by other more specific legislation, including:

All organisations and people within Australia need to abide by these laws, however, unless there is a deep understanding and enactment of the values enshrined in these laws at a community and individual level, we run the risk of having a politically correct, 'tick-the-box' society, where people do the bare minimum to meet the letter of the law rather than go the extra distance to ensure that the intent and values embedded in the legislation are lived out in everyday life.

As such, achieving a fair and equal society is difficult in practice. Complex factors affecting fairness and equality are often beyond the reach of legislation and the aspirational objectives authorities. Public value organisations have a unique responsibility for embedding fairness and equality in the community.

How do public value organisations help embed fairness and equality in Australian society?

In Australia, our public value organisations work hard to embed these outcomes in the community. The social mission of many community organisations is to explicitly improve equality in society. The vision statements, policies and strategic plans of our federal, state and local government agencies also highlight how their organisations are working to achieve a fair, just and equal society.

Public value organisations have a key role to play. The most obvious of these are Human Rights Commissioners, ombudsmen, courts, judges and elected bodies. These provide communities with the peace of mind that there is someone monitoring and enforcing our basic values of equality and fairness in all parts of our society. However there are a range of other, less obvious, organisations, institutions, and systems that play a vital role:

Our schools and educational institutions, who teach our children about the importance of equality and fairness and show them how to live these values in everyday life. They also provide all children with equal education that will provide a foundation for their active participation in society

Our health service providers, who treat everyone equally to ensure all people are healthy and able to participate equally in our society to the best of their ability

Our police, courts and corrections facilities, who have a responsibility to deal with all offenders and victims fairly and equally with no prejudice or bias

Our social workers who work with the most vulnerable members of our community to help provide them with their fundamental needs and support so that individuals, families and children have the same opportunities as the rest of the community

Our welfare systems, that provide a safety net for people so that their basic needs are met and can re-engage or better participate in society.

What can we do in Australia?

In an ideal society, everyone should be treated fairly and have access to equal opportunities. Australia needs a labour market that draws on the talents of all, not one in which people are excluded because of their cultural or socio-economic background. We want a fair society where every child has the opportunity to achieve their potential and use their talents to the benefit of our society. Our democratic structures and communities are stronger and more effective if all voices are included, and everyone has the chance to shape and influence the decisions that affect them.

Australia already has the basic structures to support equality and fairness, but what can public value organisations do to achieve even higher levels and to ensure that all people receive the benefits of these standards and legislation? How can we better embed fairness and equality throughout our whole society?

Please share your thoughts in the comments below, or reach out to anyone of us at Cube to continue the discussion!
This blog is the second of a series exploring the Public Value Compass. If you enjoyed this article, you may also be interested in our first article: Safety and Protection. Make sure to follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn for updates and articles on the other segments of the Compass.

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Why equality and fairness matters - Cube Group

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The Public Value Compass is Cube's way of modeling the key individual and community outcomes of public value. This blog is the second in a monthly series that looks at and explores each of the outcomes in detail. You see a job advertised that you know you're qualified for, and you're confident that the process will be merit based.

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War has a negative affect on American identity

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War has a negative affect on American identity

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Long after the fighting stops, war continues to impact on the health of soldiers, civilians and the environment.

For some people, the physical and mental damage caused by war lasts a lifetime. Medical teams have had to develop methods to help them adjust to living with disability and illness.

But sometimes innovations in military medicine result in better ways to treat an injury or advance fields of medicine, such as plastic surgery, psychiatry and emergency medicine.

Operation in Telic: British Forces in Iraq, 2003. Image source: Imperial War Museum

Prosthetic limbs and rehabilitation

Military surgeons have always been involved in the rehabilitation of war veterans, designing prosthetic limbs, and developing expertise in fields such as plastic surgery, neurology and psychiatry.

After the Second World War (1939-45), faster and better treatment meant that more soldiers with serious neck and spinal injuries survived. But irreparably damaged nerves left many permanently paralysed with paraplegia (impairment in the legs) or quadriplegia (impairment in all four limbs).

In September 1943, the government asked the spinal injuries specialist Dr Ludwig Guttmann to establish the National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, the UK's first specialist unit for treating spinal injuries. It became a leading centre for neurosurgery.

After surgery, the long process of rehabilitation began. Guttmann believed that sport was a major part of rehabilitation. Sport helped veterans build up physical strength and self-confidence.

Ludwig Guttmann organised the first Stoke Mandeville Games for disabled patients on 28 July 1948, the same day as the start of the London 1948 Summer Olympics. His Games are often regarded as the forerunners to the modern Paralympic Games.

Australian Paralympian Tony South receives his gold medal for archery from Dr Ludwig Goodman at the 1968 Paralympics.

War and mental health

Veterans with mental health conditions resulting from their wartime experience often needed continuing treatment and support after the war.

Both World Wars impacted the fields of psychology and psychiatry, as specialists were called upon to treat soldiers suffering from debilitating stress and trauma. Special units were set up to receive soldiers experiencing mental trauma, some centres were near the war zone so soldiers could return to the front once they recovered. More serious cases were sent back to military hospitals in the UK.

Successive wars have had their own ways of describing and dealing with mental health conditions resulting from war:

Shell shock: 'blame the soldier not the situation'

The term 'shell shock' was coined in the First World War. At first, doctors thought that it was a physical illness resulting from the effects of sustained shelling. Many soldiers who survived an explosion had no visible injuries but exhibited symptoms that could be attributed to spinal or nerve damage.

The range of symptoms ascribed to shell shock included tinnitus, amnesia, headaches, dizziness, tremors and hypersensitivity to noise. Shell shock could also manifest as a helplessness, panic, fear, flight or an inability to reason, sleep, walk or talk.

Shell shock was poorly understood, medically and psychologically, and the official response was often unsympathetic. Soldiers were suspected of feigning symptoms and accused of mallingering to avoid fighting.

Private Meek's Recovery

This short video was filmed at the military hospital at Netley during the First World War. It shows Private Meek, a 28 year old soldier during his two-and- a-half-year journey to recovery from shell shock. [1 min. 42 secs.]

This is an extract from a longer promotional film directed by neurologist Major Arthur Hurst. Patients such as Private Meek participated in reconstructions in order to demonstrate the results of their treatment.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was the term developed soon after the Vietnam War and codified by the American Psychiatric Association in 1980 to explain the mental and psychological effects of war on soldiers.

PTSD is a mental health disorder that can develop after the experience of either a single traumatic event or recurring traumatic experiences.

It can affect a person's social interactions, their ability to work, or other important areas of their lives. Symptoms may include disturbing thoughts, feelings, mental or physical distress, unexpected changes in behaviour and an increase in the fight-or-flight response.

The diagnosis of PTSD now covers a wide range of traumatic events such as accidents, assault, natural disasters and exposure to violence. The risk of developing PTSD after a traumatic event varies by trauma type, but military service and becoming a war refugee both increase the risk of developing PTSD.

Not all wounds are visible

This film was produced in collaboration with a small group of British military veterans from recent conflicts, who have all been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). They hope to give an insight into the experience of living with this condition, which they believe is poorly understood.

It seems that every combat situation has its own particular mental pressures: shell shock, war neuroses, battle fatigue, combat stress reaction and PTSD are all time-specific terms for a variety of psychological symptoms that can result from war. Some are short-term, while others are more long-lasting and need continuing therapeutic support.

Find out more about how mental health care has changed through history.

War has also created new roles and opportunities in medicine. The First World War saw a huge increase in the number of female nurses and male orderlies working in field hospitals near the front line. And with most men sent to fight, the War Office called on women to drive ambulances and female surgeons to perform surgery both in the war zone and at home, giving them a chance to prove their competence.

Women surgeons doing an operation at the Military Hospital, Endell Street, London. By Francis Dodd, 1920.

Military medicine has also influenced society in unexpected ways. The military was one of the first organisations to use physical and phychological assessment tests on new recruits.

Concerns about the poor performance of troops in the South African War prompted questions about the national efficiency and 'racial health' of the population. This eventually led to medical inspections for new recruits in the First World War.

A recruit having an eye test as part of a medical examination, 1917.

Towards the end of the war, a physiologist working for the military, Group Captain Martin Flack, used his knowledge of respiratory and circulatory physiology to create tests for Royal Air Force recruits. His tests were designed to select the recruits that were most suitable for training as pilots.

Psychological evaluation was added to the assessment process in the Second World War. The idea of assessing and evaluating applicants gradually filtered into civilian recruitment and is now used for all kinds of jobs.

More about war and medicine

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Medicine in the aftermath of war | Science Museum

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Long after the fighting stops, war continues to impact on the health of soldiers, civilians and the environment. For some people, the physical and mental damage caused by war lasts a lifetime. Medical teams have had to develop methods to help them adjust to living with disability and illnesses such as PTSD.

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What it means to be a leader and how leadership affects American identity

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What it means to be a leader and how leadership affects American identity

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Many of the National Museum of American History's treasures give insight into what it has meant to be an American.Culturally, Americans have defined themselves in many ways-through artistic expression, ethnic traditions, work and play, and home and community life.