TL;DR: my sixth grade science teacher told me I was "retarded" and "too stupid to realize it" in front of the whole class. Giving me a life long complex.
My parents were very hands off in regards to my education. They both worked insane hours and my father had a poor education (nearly illiterate). As a result school was completely "my responsibility" from age 7 on. Going to an underfunded-understaffed public school a lot of early learning falls on the parents (spelling, basic math, reading, etc).
Fast forward to the sixth grade and I'm struggling. My reading and math comprehension was dreadful. I would loath every day in class, as we went one by one reading aloud from the text book. I would always try to count the paragraphs and students ahead of me to work through my paragraph ahead of time. Reciting each word in my head and sounding out the ones I didn't know before I was called upon. When I finally would read aloud it was slow and painful, often evoked laughter from my peers. Sometimes my teachers would even use me as an example; the idea being that all the students would see me mortified and do their homework so they wouldn't be publicly humiliated the next day. (The fact that I was an example was even explicitly stated on multiple occasions.)
One day this all reached a fever pitch. I was being scolded by my science teacher about my various ineptitudes in front of the class. Her comments are seared into my mind. She said that I "couldn't even grasp basic concepts like cloud types" as she repeatedly asked me to tell her the scientific term for the clouds on the card she was holding. (It was a cumulonimbus cloud; like I said... seared in my brain.) I had enough; all my peers mock me for being stupid every day. I retorted "maybe I can't get basic stuff because you're a shit teacher". She stood there fuming in front of the stunned, now silent class. She screamed in my face "you know what [my full name] you are actually retarded. And you're just too stupid to realize it. Because of this schools politics you have to be here and you're holding everyone back". She then went on to teach the rest of the class like nothing happened as I laid my head on the table and silently sobbed until the bell rang. When I raised my head their was a detention slip: two weeks for cursing and making a scene (crying).
When I reported to detention after school my teacher told me that if I just let this go and actually did my homework that I would only have one day's detention. I accepted this lesser sentence thinking I had done something wrong. (Looking back she was trying to save her ass as she could clearly be fired for this type of emotional abuse)
This day was the beginning of a life long debilitating complex. No matter what I do I always think I'm dumb. I've actually visited doctors requesting evaluations for mental disabilities with no concrete evidence (akin to a hypochondriac). I have difficulties being in a relationship because I think the other person is doing me "charity" by dating me. Even more disturbing is sometimes I'll think lesser of my partner because I think so little of myself why would she be with me. Kind of like a transitive propert thing. (As in if she is with me, and there is something clearly wrong with me. Then it logically follows that there is also something clearly wrong with her).
After hours and hours of self tutoring with online tools like Kahn academy I thrived in school. In high school I got good grades in AP and honors level courses. In college I received deans list as well as distinction in my major; graduating with a 3.8. [BA in linguistic anthropology and philosophy.]
Despite all this I actually think it was my teachers or my professors doing me favors because they liked me. Or they graded me less harshly because they knew I have a mental handicap. As I entered the work force I thought I got jobs because people were being nice or felt sorry for me as an ambitious mentally disabled person. I have a hard time taking pride in any achievement because I still deeply believe I'm that "retarded" boy from elementary/middle school who is just too stupid to realize that people are only doing him favors. I now work obsessively hard at everything, even just my "relaxation hobbies" because I think that's the only way I'll make it in this world.
It's basically ruining my life and I can't even talk to people about it. I see a psychologist every once and a while but it's hard. This post is very cathartic in that sense.
God bless anonymity