The Chinese Taipei Sport Association for the Deaf set its sights on hosting the Deaflympics after attending the 2001 games in Rome. The competition was Athens, fresh off hosting the 2004 Olympics and Paralympics. In February 2003, at the 38th session of the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf in Sundsvall, Sweden, Taipei won the vote. Preparation began in earnest in 2005, with an estimated budget of NT$4.6 billion. The centerpiece was the new Taipei Stadium, a NT$3 billion facility completed on June 15, 2009, and certified as a Class 1 Athletics Facility by the IAAF. Funded jointly by the Taipei City Government and the Sports Affairs Council, the stadium hosted opening and closing ceremonies, athletics events, and the football finals.

Eighty-five deaf sports federations registered to participate, sending athletes to compete across 20 disciplines at 22 venues scattered across Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan County, and Hsinchu County. The games' mascots were two Taipei tree frogs named Peace and Love, their arms spread wide in the shape of the Chinese character for "north," representing the host city. The theme song, "Dreams You Can Hear," was performed by Taiwanese pop star A-mei. For the opening ceremony, renowned deaf percussionist Evelyn Glennie performed alongside U-Theatre, a local drumming group, while 80 children from schools for the hearing-impaired used sign language to express the games' message. China sent 63 hearing-impaired dancers to perform a "1,000 Hand Bodhisattva" routine, a gesture of cultural participation despite the political tensions that had kept the PRC delegation from the opening of the World Games in Kaohsiung earlier that year.

Chinese Taipei's athletes delivered their strongest showing in the nation's Deaflympics history, earning 11 gold medals, 11 silvers, and 11 bronzes for fifth place overall. Russia dominated the medal table with 29 golds, followed by Ukraine, South Korea, and the People's Republic of China. The host nation's strongest events were bowling, table tennis, and taekwondo. One Taipei bowler, Chang Yao-chien, was a tournament unto herself, collecting four gold medals in women's events. Officials had set a target of 12 golds, and the one-medal shortfall was attributed to the limited pool of competitive deaf athletes in Taiwan. Still, the ICSD president, Donalda Ammons, used sign language to deliver her verdict: the Taipei Deaflympics were the best ever.

The closing ceremony broke with sporting tradition in the most Taiwanese way possible: food. Twelve signature dishes were served at 350 tables on the stadium floor, including peanuts from Yunlin County, highland tea, and pearl milk tea. The 14,000 spectators in the stands received food vouchers worth NT$200 each. Performances included Taiwanese opera from the famous Ming Hwa Yuan troupe, lion dances, and songs by Hong Kong pop star Aaron Kwok, who declared that the Deaflympics had touched the world. Mayor Hau Lung-pin presented honorary citizenship of Taipei to ICSD officials, including China team leader Yang Yang, the first Chinese citizen to receive such recognition in the capital. The flag was then passed to Athens for the 2013 games. It was, by nearly all accounts, a perfect ending, marred only by the deportation of a Spanish athlete accused of harassing a volunteer.