Shauna Rae Opens Up About the 'Amazing Experience' of Dating Another Person with Pituitary Dwarfism

Shauna Rae had a welcome positive dating experience during the season 2 premiere of I Am Shauna Rae.

After working with a matchmaker, the 22-year-old reality star was set up on a blind date with Thomas, a volunteer firefighter who also has pituitary dwarfism. "I'm a little nervous, but at the same time am super excited to meet someone who's gone through something very similar to me," Shauna said in the episode. "I'm interested to see the similarities and the differences."

Upon meeting, Shauna's first impression was how much taller 4'8" Thomas is, even though they have the same diagnosis. On their date, they toured his firehouse and then had dinner at a diner — with Shauna's stepfather and sister sitting just one table over.

Throughout their conversation, Shauna and Thomas discovered a lot of other differences between themselves, mostly regarding their lifestyles.

Shauna also shared with Thomas that she's "had kids hit on me" because her 3'10" height, which resulted from pediatric brain cancer that stopped the development of her pituitary gland. With a laugh, Thomas admitted nothing of the sort has happened to him.

As the date progressed, Shauna and Thomas found one big commonality — they're both looking to move out and buy homes at some point in the future.

Though they may have differences in dating experiences, height, and personality traits, Shauna told PEOPLE she really enjoyed her time with Thomas.

"Meeting the young man with pituitary dwarfism was an amazing experience. We had a lot in common because of our medical histories. And then our actual social lives are much different," she said.

Shauna hoped viewers see just how different they are — and how one, shared diagnosis doesn't determine who a person becomes.

"I think that is very inspiring for each of us and anyone else when they watch it because we came kind of from a similar background, but not at the same time," Shauna continued. "And we live two different lives due to two different ways of people reacting to our disability."

Regardless of her romantic prospects with Thomas, he inspired her in more ways than one. They delved into their experiences during a heavy conversation about the degrading terms they've been called, with Thomas telling her he empowers himself by not allowing the words of others to define him.

She spoke highly of Thomas, and the parts of his life he shared on screen. "I think it's very beneficial because he is such an inspiring man," she said. "He inspires me to do good. He inspires people in his life to do good."

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free weekly newsletter to get the biggest news of the week delivered to your inbox every Friday.

I Am Shauna Rae airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.