About Jonathan Heider Laedtke

Living Everyday Starfish

Born during the Croatian Civil War of Independence (1991-1995), Jonathan Heider was placed in an orphanage at birth from his biological family. During this period of time, a nun from Green Bay, Wisconsin was on a mission trip to help refugee children who had been separated from their parents. Knowing of his soon to be adoptive parents, this nun found Jonathan and immediately reached out to them. She stated that she found a little boy with no arms and no legs and asked if they wanted him. Sight unseen, they said yes without hesitation.

Fast forward a few years, he is a high energy kid in small-town Wisconsin in need of an outlet and wanting to be like my older siblings who all had sports of their own. Jonathan soon plunged into the world of athletics, playing every disabled/wheelchair sport from sled hockey, wheelchair rugby, wheelchair tennis, wheelchair basketball, to sitting volleyball, but quickly grasping onto the sport of swimming. Starting off locally, swimming quickly took him to the national stage as well as the international stage where he competed in Junior Nationals, Junior Worlds, Worlds, Pan-American Games, Canadian Open, Greek Open, and many others.

In 2010, Jonathan Heider humbly accepted a position on the resident team at the Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado where he trained full-time as a Paralympic Swimmer. His success continued to shine in the Paralympic swimming world, setting 7 American records and medaling at multiple world championship events. During this time, he began educating and advocating on accessibility, diversity and inclusion through speeches, workshops, and events. After just missing the 2012 team for the Paralympic Games in London, England, he floated down from cloud nine and enrolled myself into college.

In 2017, Jonathan graduated with high honors from UW-Milwaukee with an undergraduate degree in architecture and a minor and certificate in real estate development. From May 2017 through June 2020 he worked at local architecture firms in the Milwaukee area specializing in accessibility design through construction documents, space planning, rendering, as well as interior design; all while maintaining his keynote speaking along the way.

In February 2021, Jonathan fully launched himself as a jack-of-all trades by opening his own company, Split Star Productions. Split Star has allowed him the freedom in providing keynote speeches, accessibility consulting, and diversity and inclusion workshops to colleges, universities, nonprofits, and companies at various scales. Jonathan continues his mission today advocating for diversity and inclusion alongside his passion for architecture and design. We look forward to connecting with you soon and finding a way to improve the community around us.