Book excerpt: If you are looking for the perfect employee, Nadine Vogel urges you to consider people with disabilities, parents of children with special needs, and older workers⿿the people she includes in the special needs workforce. In her opening chapter, Vogel cites these facts: * People with disabilities are more likely to stay with an employer than their non-disabled counterparts. Older workers also have reduced turnover rates. * People with disabilities consistently meet or exceed job performance and productivity expectations. * People with disabilities have a well-deserved reputation (backed up by research) for innovation. Accustomed to adapting to a variety of situations, they are often quick to troubleshoot, formulate new ideas, and adopt cutting-edge solutions. * Absentee rates are lower for people with disabilities and for older workers, compared with "typical employees." With the beginning of the retirement years for baby boomers and smaller cohorts following them, the available labor pool in the United States is diminishing. But even if the current economic situation means that more people stay in their jobs longer, Vogel points out that older workers are often dealing with some sort of disability and may need some extra support from their employers. In this readable book, Vogel takes you through what you need to know to make the most of this creative workforce and includes a directory of resources as well as interviews with executives from today's leading corporations showing best practices in the critical areas of dealing with disability in the workplace.