Patent ID: 8216200

Claim:
An absorbent article for personal wear about a wearer's waist, the article comprising: a liquid permeable inner surface for facing the wearer; an outer surface for facing away from the wearer; an absorbent body disposed therebetween; a front waist region, a back waist region, and a crotch region extending longitudinally between and interconnecting the front and back waist regions; a pair of front side panels attached to the front waist region and a pair of back side panels attached to the back waist region, the front and back side panels being one of permanently attached and releasably attachable to define a wear configuration of the absorbent article having a waist opening and a pair of leg openings spaced from the waist opening, wherein the front and back side panels each extend from the waist opening to one of the leg openings, the article being configurable from the wear configuration to a disposal configuration in which the article is generally compacted for disposal; and a disposal tab having an attachment region with an attachment width and a tab region with a gripping width, the attachment region attached to one of the front or back side panels, the tab region being attachable to the article in at least the disposal configuration of the article, wherein the attachment width is substantially equal to the gripping width and wherein the tab region comprises a tab mechanical fastener and a gap region without a mechanical fastener and disposed between the tab mechanical fastener and the attachment region.