'He's such a celebration' says actor of son James

Actor Colin Farrell has been on an Irish television show talking about life with son James, who suffers from neuro-genetic disorder Angelman's.

'He has his own path,' Farrell says of four-year-old James. 'It was caught pretty early because he started having seizures at about eight or nine months ... horrible. It got diagnosed. For awhile they said he had cerebral palsy. Then we got early intervention. Early intervention is so important -- the quicker something is diagnosed then the quicker you can counteract its negative effects.'

'He's nothing but a gift. He's, as far as I'm concerned, exactly the way he should be. I look around and I see people who move perfectly, who walk with grace, who speak with great diction and clarity and a great use of the English language and we're all miserable f***kers -- including me, at times!

'You know, we want to be this or we want to be that, or compete with the man next to us ... and then I see this fella who doesn't move the way what's perceived to be 'normal' is, and he's as happy as can be. He's just brilliant.'

• The Colin effect on Irish baby names
  
• Heat magazine's Harvey jeer
  
• Our Parent-to-parent Talk Forums