As the name implies, a permanent partial disability means your health will never reach what it was before your workplace injury or illness. You will have some type of permanent residuals that you did not have prior to the injury. You have a permanent impairment that, while not leaving you totally disabled, may impede your ability to work or to do your activities of daily living as you did prior to the injury. Unlike permanent total disability, you do not have to be completely disabled and unable to work in any capacity to receive these benefits.