Galina Zaytseva

Galina Lazarevna Zaitseva (; 12 October 1934 – 6 August 2005) was a Russian teacher known for her research of sign language and Deaf history and culture. She was one of the key early advocates for what became codified as Russian Sign Language.

Biography Zaitseva was born in Moscow, into a secular Jewish family. Her father, Lazar Abramovich Zaitsev, was a bridge engineer who had moved to Moscow from Vitebsk. He enlisted in the Red Army at the beginning of World War II, and was killed in Lithuania in 1944. Zaitseva's mother, Sofia Emirovna Zaitseva , was a musician by training who primarily raised Zaitseva and her younger brother, Vladimir.

Zaitseva did well in her studies and after finishing school, studied defectology at Moscow State V. I. Lenin Pedagogical Institute; in 1956, she graduated with a degree in Russian language and literature. She went on to work as a Russian language and literature teacher at the Liubliono School for Deaf Children. Zaitseva spent the following thirty years working as a research at the institute (today known as the Institute of Complex Problems of the Russian Academy of Education), leaving in 1993. During the 1980s, her doctoral research, entitled "Sign speech in the system of teaching and upbringing of adult Deaf people", caused debate in the scientific and pedagogical community; Zaitseva successfully defended her thesis in 1988.

From 1993, Zaitseva worked as a professor within the Faculty of Special Education and Special Psychology at Moscow State Pedagogical University, teaching the history of Deaf pedagogy, verbal and non-verbal communication methods and sociolinguistics. She also organised the first sign language teacher training programme in Russia. She also advocated for Deaf people to participate in the research of sign languages and psycholinguistics. Zaitseva organised many conferences on the bilingual education of the Deaf. Zaitseva was named an expert by the World Federation of the Deaf.

Zaitseva published 80 scientific papers on sign language and Deaf history, culture and education. She published the book Dactylology and Signed Speech (1992). A posthumous collection of her work, entitled The Gesture and the World, was published following her death.

Zaitseva researched sign language vocabulary, including synonyms and non-equivalent vocabulary, and developed educational programmes for Deaf children of varying ages.

In recognition of her research, the Galina Zaitseva Centre for Deaf Studies and Sign Language, founded by Zaitseva's friend A. A. Komarova, was named after her.