Why did Adam deny having Aspergers?

As I was idly re-reading the New Yorker's article in which Peter Lanza was interviewed, and a certain detail from the passage struck out at me, and I wasn't sure what to make of it. 

Quote :

When Adam was thirteen, Peter and Nancy took him to Paul J. Fox, a psychiatrist, who gave a diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome (a category that the American Psychiatric Association has since subsumed into the broader diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder). Peter and Nancy finally knew what they were up against. “It was communicated as ‘Adam, this is good news. This is why you feel this way, and now we can do something about it,’ ” Peter recalled. But Adam would not accept the diagnosis.

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What motivated Adam to reject the diagnosis?

Maybe Adam didn't understand what Aspergers was? He seems like a complete enigma sometimes.

I think he probably just hated the idea of being someone who has Aspergers and therefore rejected the diagnosis completely. I know I wouldn't be happy if I was diagnosed with Aspergers

I can not say for certain why Adam would have rejected having aspergers. I remember when I was first diagnosed with it at 13, I was in denial about it and rejected the label out of embarrassment. Over time I eventually ended up accepting it and seeing it in a positive light instead of a negative one. I see it for what it is. It is one of the many things that make me different from a lot of people. Adam had a very low self esteem however and never was able to admit to himself that he had aspergers because my admitting it he was afraid of it making him vulnerable to others even more than how he had already felt.

He probably understood the stigma around Asperger’s and was ashamed by his diagnosis. I was diagnosed with a learning disorder (not the same as Asperger's, but similar) around that age. I understood what it meant and how it could affect the way people looked at me. It honestly stole any self-confidence I may of had at the time, and made me feel like I was even more strange then I already did.

Perhaps Adam felt the same, given his' already low self esteem.

Adam seemed to have a hatred of therapists (or TheRapists as he called them) and probably psychology and psychiatry in general, so rejected the diagnosis.

I also remember reading that he didn't want to be treated any different in high school, despite the numerous arrangements put in place to make the experience as comfortable for Adam as possible, and the lengths Adam's mother and teachers had to go to to make him believe they weren't making any special accommodations for him.

He also had dreams of joining the military so maybe felt the diagnosis would be a black mark on his record.

AdamnLanza wrote:

Adam seemed to have a hatred of therapists (or TheRapists as he called them) and probably psychology and psychiatry in general, so rejected the diagnosis.

I think this is as close to being the truth as anything. Adam's thought process was very mixed up. He had issues with a huge number of things, but especially had a clear dislike of therapists.