Many Deafs consider their condition to be more of a lifestyle than an actual disability. Since cochlear implants and other advances in science have made deafness an option for many people, this now has a certain ring of truth.
(If you want to know, this viewpoint grew out of a sense of solidarity deaf people developed with one another as a result of being a strong yet highly isolated minority in a larger society that was largely ambivalent to them. They often live in special communities and have cultural peculiarities such as the kind of parties, movies and schooling they engage in.)