In our quest to eliminate the "r" word, we have gone from 'challenged' to 'differently abled' to 'special' to 'exceptional.' This reminds me of the scene in Parenthood where Steve Martin's character is told by the school that his son is 'special' and he assumes they meant 'gifted'.
Never saw the movie. Used to be, kids were called now-forbidden words, but at least they had lives. Now, most kids with Downs Syndrome are aborted. It is stunning how few kids I saw anymore with Downs.