I can only speak for myself on this question. For me and my problem after researching and seeing how I am affected by my drinking I can say it is not a disease FOR ME.
Although I react to having alcohol in my system differently than most other drinkers, I constantly crave it and I can never get enough, and I could consider this a physical ailment, or an allergy, or even a brain disfunction, but I can't look at it as a disease because it is brought on by me putting the drink to my mouth. I have to act to make the problem happen in the first place.
Now I read constantly about how many people on this board feel they have no power over picking up the first drink, or they constantly obsess over alcohol even when it isn't in their body, and that in my mind is a self control issue, at least for me. If I allow myself to constantly think about how bad I want the drink, and I don't replace those thoughts with something else or keep the consequences deeply ingrained in my skull, I could obsess over wanting to drink as well. Again, this is my perspective of my problem.
So I know for me, drinking has a physical component to it, but it is more like an allergy than a disease. The mental component is something, at least for me was learned, much like the Pavlov dog scenario. I have let everything I have done in my life be associated with getting drunk, and so everything I do whether it be getting in my car, going to a ball game, or just sitting down to relax for the last 27 years has been the bell that makes me want to drink, and the hard part is retraining my mind not to expect alcohol everytime the bell goes off.
So I see it as a learned problem that brings on an allergic reaction...but again this is the problem that I suffer from. I have no way to see if what I am going through is the same as someone who classifys their problem as a disease and whether it is similar or different than mine.