There is a theory proposed by Schein and Golocovsky that a deaf community begins to form only when certain conditions are met. Two factors that maintain a deaf community are rejection and attraction.

Rejection
The general (hearing) community often isolates deaf people. This can be done linguistically or socially, intentionally or unintentionally. It can be done individually or institutionally. The result is that deaf people do not feel treated as equals in the general hearing population.

It happens in family and social settings, where hearing people talk to each other and the deaf person doesn't understand what is being said. Trying to follow every conversation can be frustrating and tiring.

Some hearing people take advantage of deaf people: making jokes about them, or even abusing them simply because they cannot hear. Other hearing people take financial advantage of the deaf, using the deaf to profit themselves.

These are just a few of the many possible reasons why deaf people might feel "rejected" by hearing society.

Attraction
Deaf people often seek each other out. They find other individuals who share their language and who share their sense of frustration with the general population. They look for people who share a similar sense of culture and norms, history and language. In these communities, individuals find it easier to communicate and understand each other.

Conclusions 
The authors argue that these two elements, Rejection and Attraction, are what ultimately bind the deaf community together. They note that these concepts are not universal. Not every deaf person will feel rejected by hearing society or attracted to deaf society. It just describes larger trends within this subgroup of the population.

Two major factors that determine whether people join the deaf community are degree of hearing loss and the age that deafness began.

Implications
Schein and Golocovsky argue that integration would not destroy the deaf community because deaf individuals would likely still feel some degree of rejection by hearing society and likely still have a strong attraction toward other deaf individuals. Similarly, they argue that the deaf community would remain strong in the face of cochlear implants. Since the implants do not fully restore functional hearing, it is likely that deaf persons will still have a sense of rejection among the hearing community and an attraction to the deaf community. Telecommunications may enhance conversation with non-deaf persons, but for most deaf people, this enhanced technology cannot replace the genuine desire for human interaction. 

Reference: 

Schein, Jerome D. and Silvia Golocovsky. "Special Education, Rehabilitation, and the Deaf Community," la educación, Vol. 120, 1995: 1. Inter-American Agency for Cooperation and Development: Washington D.C.