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Google recently announced that it is launching a new program aimed at hiring and better supporting people with autism into its cloud workforce. The Google Cloud Autism Career Program consists of experts from the Stanford Neurodiversity Project — part of the university’s medical school — that will train up to 500 Google Cloud managers and others who are fundamental to the hiring process on how to work more effectively with candidates who have autism. Stanford experts will also help coach applicants with autism and the support system will continue if the candidates are hired. There will also be changes to the interview process to be more accommodating for those with autism, according to Rob Enslin, president of global customer operations for Google Cloud. These candidates will be allowed extra interview time, view questions in advance or have the option to do their interview in writing. “These accommodations don’t give those candidates an unfair advantage,” Enslin said in a blog post about the new program. “It’s just the opposite: They remove an unfair disadvantage so candidates have a fair and equitable chance to compete for the job.” Enslin referenced a statistic that only 29% of people with autism have paid employment, something he says is “tragic.”  “This program is just one example of Google Cloud’s commitment to inclusion, and it is an important step forward to building a more representative team and creating value for customers and stakeholders,” said Enslin. Image source: Trend Hunter

Five members of an all-girl Afghan robotics team have arrived safely in Mexico after fleeing their home country following the Taliban takeover. “We give you the warmest welcome to Mexico,” said Mexican Deputy Foreign Minister Martha Delgado during a news conference.  The team members thanked the government for saving their lives and providing opportunity and hope in Mexico. The country has pledged to air Afghan women and girls. “We are happy to be here,” said Fatemah Qaderyan, a member of the team, according to local media reports. “From now on we will have opportunities for many more achievements in our lives,” she added.  The robotics team is made up of girls as young as 14, and has been spotlighted for winning international awards for its robots. In March, the team began working on an open-source, low-cost ventilator as the coronavirus pandemic hit their home nation. Allyson Reneau, a mother of 11 from Oklahoma, first met the girls at a 2019 conference and helped them escape Afghanistan this week. She traveled to Qatar herself to help file the paperwork and get the girls out of Kabul. "I got a text from one of the girls that just said: 'We did it.' All the emotion from two weeks of work and running into a wall constantly, and burying your feelings, and bearing your feelings for the girls, it just hit me all at once,” Reneau told Insider. Reneau said the girls are figuring out their next move, but they have already received “an abundance of scholarship offers from incredible universities” in the U.S. "For the first time in their life, I really believe they have the freedom to choose and to be the architects of their own destiny and their own future," she said. "It's the freeing feeling to me to know that they will be able to go somewhere and get educated wherever they want." Image source: Assembly, a Malala Fund publication

T-Mobile is continuing its long-standing support of education with a $1 million donation to support teachers through DonorsChoose, a platform that allows educators to ask the public for help purchasing classroom materials. T-Mobile is also on the third year of its #CleartheList campaign, a campaign in which the brand selects a teacher every day for the month of August that uses the hashtag to clear their entire list of supplies needed. T-Mobile also has its Project 10Million, a $10.7 billion initiative offering free internet and free mobile hotspots across the U.S. in an effort to help close the digital divide that approximately 10 million families face. “Back to school is special this year. It represents getting back to so much more that we’ve missed after a really trying year for families, teachers and students,” said Jon Freier, EVP of T-Mobile’s Consumer Group. “That’s why T-Mobile is going big here to help everyone stay connected with America’s largest, fastest and most reliable 5G network.” “This coming school year might be the most important of our generation, and teachers will need all the encouragement we can give them as so many return to classrooms,” said Charles Best, founder of DonorsChoose. “T-Mobile’s gift to teachers will help students start the year strong and support them during a time of readjustment.” For families, teachers and students preparing for the new school year, T-Mobile is now offering “iPhone 12 on Us” — when you switch to and activate the Magenta Max rate plan, no trade required. Image source: T-Mobile

Ben Jackson is an Australian sheep farmer in Guyra, which is in the Australian state of New South Wales. His aunt passed after a two-year battle with cancer, and the funeral was being held more than 200 miles away in Brisbane. Jackson was unable to attend the funeral due to strict coronavirus border closures in Australia, so he found a creative way to honor her. As he was feeding his pregnant ewes (female sheep), he scattered the grain by hand in the shape of a heart. A drone captured the special moment from above, and the sheep huddled around the grain.  “My aunty loved coming down to the farm and poking around so I just thought a heart for her would be very appropriate,” Jackson told ABC News. “I just hope that when I did it, she was having a peep through the clouds and was able to see it,” he told 7News in Sydney. Jackson calls this “sheep art,” and it is not the first time he has used livestock to tell a story. During the drought in 2018, he “got a little bit despondent about going and feeding grain every day” to his sheep. So, he purchased a drone and began creating messages with the grain.  Jackson notes that farming can be a lonely profession, so he likes to create entertainment and exercise his creative muscle. “This heart that I’ve done for my auntie, it certainly seems like it’s had a bit of an effect across Australia,” he said to NBC News, in reference to the outpouring of love on social media. “Maybe we all just need to give ourselves a big virtual hug.” Image source: BBC

Tom Rice is known for recreating his jump into Normandy on the 75th anniversary of D-Day, and he just did it again to celebrate his 100th birthday.  The World War II veteran and former paratrooper jumped out of a plane and landed on the beachfront of the Hotel Del Coronado in his hometown of Coronado, California. He dedicated his jump to the 101st Airborne Division and “The 4 Colonels of Carenan,” in support of a monument being built in Normandy as a tribute to those who liberated Europe. Just after landing, Rice said, “I feel great! Let’s go back up and do it again.” So, he jumped again, landing to cheers from his hometown. “It was exhilarating. It was a replay of everything that took place in Europe, from the time that I landed in England,” Rice told Flying Magazine. “I think the whole city of Coronado was there. It was a happy day.” Rice told NBC News, “I like to jump because it gives you a new vision of so many things that 90% of people will never be able to see.” Rice hopes to jump again on his 101st birthday next year.  As for how he has lived to be 100 years old, Rice has some words of wisdom. “Stand up straight, talk straight, live straight, and move around. You’ve got to move around.” Image source: NBC News

North Carolina father Peter Mutabazi understands the meaning of second chances. He was born in Uganda to an abusive father, ran away, and struggled on the streets until a Good Samaritan took him in. “My childhood was difficult, but somehow it gave me empathy,” he told TODAY.  Mutabazi attended college in the U.K. before moving to the United States to work for World Vision, a nonprofit that helps children. He has always loved children and wanted to create a safe place for them, so he became a foster parent in 2017. He has since fostered over a dozen children, including his adopted son, Anthony.  Anthony was abandoned by his adoptive parents at age 11, and Mutabazi had a special bond with him as his foster dad. “He has no family — he had no where else to go,” he explained. When Anthony arrived at Mutabazi’s home, he asked if he could call him “dad.” “I just wanted somewhere that I could feel safe and secure and I knew that I could stay there without worrying about moving somewhere else,” Anthony said. Anthony continually asked Mutazabi when he could be adopted. Finally, on Nov. 12, 2019, it became official. “It was really neat to see that happen that he had my last name, which he had wanted for a really long time,” said the proud dad. As the pandemic began to sweep across the world, Mutazabi knew he wanted to help more children. “Most homes have been closed, so I knew there were not many places to go,” he said. He now shares his North Carolina home with four kids and two dogs. “My goal is to lift up those who have been forgotten and to say you’re special, you matter,” said Mutazabi. Image source: Peter Mutazabi / Facebook

17-year-old Anastasia Pagonis from Long Island, New York is competing at the Tokyo Paralympic Games this week. Pagonis, who is blind, is competing in several swimming events and just clinched her first — and Team USA’s first — gold medal when she beat her own world record in the women’s 400m freestyle with a time of 4:54.49. Pagonis began losing her vision at 12 years old, when her soccer career began to dwindle. She said, “I was getting kicked in the face with the soccer ball too much.” Her doctors suggested swimming instead because it would be a much safer sport for her. Now, years after becoming blind, Pagonis is a world record holder and Paralympic gold medalist, and she has brought her more than two million TikTok followers along for the journey. Initially, Pagonis was misdiagnosed with Stargardt disease, a genetic eye disorder that results in vision loss. She actually has genetic retinal disease and autoimmune retinopathy. “My body thinks my eyes are bad and attacks my retina,” she explained. She fell into a deep depression and quit swimming. “I felt like, ‘Why should I even live anymore if I’m going to be like this?’” Then, she discovered Molly Burke, a blind YouTuber whose videos she found comforting. After struggling to find a swimming coach, Pagonis found Marc Danis, who spent hours in the pool with blacked out goggles to understand Pagonis’ experience. She was also paired with her guide dog named Radar. The golden lab has “changed her life.” “I didn’t have any freedom or independence before him, and now that I have him, I feel like a totally different person,” she said on NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt. Pagonis continues to share her journey on TikTok, where she regularly posts videos about being an athlete, makeup routines, or clips of Radar.  “I don’t have to be the stereotype of blindness. … I can do my own makeup. I can be an influencer. I can be a professional athlete,” she said. And Pagonis says she will continue “showing other people with disabilities, or people who are just different, that they can do it.” Image source: SwimSwam, NBC Sports

Former model from Poland, Maja Kotala, ditched the runway to teach sewing and design to underprivileged women in Kenya. The 30-year-old from Chorzów created the educational program ‘Sewing Together’ that equips Kenyan women with necessary skills to then be able to sell their creations. “I have just finished with one group who are ready to fly. The next group has started and they have amazing energy,” said the former Polish model. “They want to change their lives, they want to help me in changing the lives of other people and I couldn’t be more thankful and grateful.” The project has partnered with Salvation Army Kenya, and 20 graduates now have products available for purchase online. The courses are free for the women and take place in the Bamburi district of Mombasa. Students learn how to not only create clothes, but also how to start their very own fashion line. Included in the curriculum are yoga and meditation classes. The idea for Sewing Together came about when Kotala lost her modeling job in Paris due to COVID, followed by the death of her father. She had previously studied fashion design in Australia, so she decided to put these skills to good use by empowering women in Africa and teaching them to sew.  “Uganda was the first trip and I have to admit I didn’t like it,” she said. “I came back home it was so hard. The culture difference was so big, I didn’t know if I wanted to continue with it. “The love I felt inside of me for Africa came back so I decided to give it a second chance and went to Nairobi.” In addition to teaching the group about sewing and designing clothes, the initiative is also tackling menstrual poverty with reusable pads. According to the Sewing Together website, “Due to the lack of adequate protection, young girls during menstruation are often forced to use leaves, feathers, or even sand. Many young women even stop going to school. “It creates gaps in education and often leads to expulsion. Sewing Together reached out to Polish fashion houses seeking help, from their offcuts we make pads! Kotala said, “They wanted to change their lives and I was supposed to be the person who they did that with.” Image source: Maja Kotala / Sewing Together Facebook

The vacation rental company Airbnb announced that it would start offering free temporary housing to approximately 20,000 refugees to help them resettle across the world.  “The displacement and resettlement of Afghan refugees in the U.S. and elsewhere is one of the biggest humanitarian crises of our time,” tweeted Airbnb’s co-founder and head of community Brian Chesky. ​​"As tens of thousands of Afghan refugees resettle around the world, where they stay will be the first chapter in their new lives. For these 20,000 refugees, my hope is that the Airbnb community will provide them with not only a safe place to rest and start over, but also a warm welcome home," he added. “We feel a responsibility to step up.” The offer starts immediately and the company is working with non-governmental organizations to help locally with the most pressing needs. Airbnb will also cover the costs of the initiative and will rely on donations to its Refugee Fund. The company said: "We know that Airbnb hosts and guests around the world will be eager to stand up and assist this massive effort - and in the coming days, Airbnb and Airbnb.org plan to share details on how hosts and the broader community can support this initiative." Chesky said it was the community’s hosts offering up their residences that made the idea truly possible. He also hopes the initiative will inspire “other business leaders to do the same.” “There’s no time to waste,” he said. Image source: Time

Martin Adler, 97, has held on to a black-and-white photo of himself as a young soldier with three well-dressed Italian children that he is credited with saving from the Nazis. On Aug. 23, seven decades later, Adler was reunited with the siblings. In December, Adler’s daughter, Rachelle Adler Donley, told the story of her father’s wartime past on a Facebook page to help raise funds for the trip to Italy. “While searching for hiding Germans, my father Martin Adler and John Bronsky (deceased), saw a large closed basket moving and making noise. No one came out even after they were warned,” says Donley’s Facebook post. “It was just at that moment a woman came running into the room shouting ‘Children, children, children.’” "She put her stomach against my father's thomson sub machine gun. Then three small beautiful children emerged from that basket. They were just seconds away from a tragedy of taking young, innocent lives. Relieved and overcome with joy, my father hugged the children." Adler then asked to take a photo with the children. “Their mother agreed, but only after they changed into their Sunday best clothes. For seventy-seven years, Martin has cherished that photo and always wondered about them.” Thanks to help from social media, Donley was able to locate the three “bambini.” They were living just miles from where Adler found them, in the northern region of Italy. The three Naldi siblings welcomed Adler and are planning to spend time with him in their village. Adler will spend almost two weeks in Italy, visiting Bologna, Monterenzio, Florence, Rome and Naples. He enjoys drawing and will make drawings in each city he visits for charity. Image source: CBS 12