Exceptional

Charlie says, "I’m “exceptional”- a democratic term used to avoid the labels of “gifted” and “deprived” (which used to mean “bright” and “retarded”) and as soon as “exceptional” begins to mean anything to anyone they’ll change it. The idea seems to be: use an expression as long as it doesn’t mean anything to anybody. “Exceptional” refers to both ends of the spectrum, so all my life I’ve been exceptional.”

Charlie thinks of the word "exceptional" as a way to describe him before and after the operation. This shows how he wants to be treated like a person, rather than a special case. He wants people, especially Professor Nemur, to realize that he was a person before the procedure too.