I'm not blind, but when someone is blind and has autism, I tend to think of it the reverse of how you worded it.

It's not being blind that causes a learning disability, it's probably a genetic mutation or other stresser that causes the blindness & the learning disability.

Otherwise, if someone has mental illness or social awkwardness, and they're blind, they got it from being around shitty people who were mean to them, not directly from being blind.

I have been asking myself this question a lot lately. I was born blind with cataracts and had them removed in 1990. today at 27, with the help of 3 different glasses and a pair of contacts I waver on the line between being able to drive or not. I am socially awkward in a lot of situations but it isn't debilitating, it's more embarrassing/frustrating that I don't seem to fit in when that's all I really want. I also have pretty high anxiety.

I was teased relentlessly by my peers, multiple broken/stolen glasses but the years of verbal teasing really took its tool. Home life was no better. Raped nearly daily from the age of 5-16, Physically and mentally abusive Step-Mother, Alcoholic father who, while he never directly abused me, never defended me either.

I have never received help with dealing with these things so I don't know if my insistence to not have people walk behind me while out and about is a silly autistic quark or deep-rooted self-preservation against being attacked from behind!

yay!

Yes, being blind can impede social growth. There are multiple factors.

One big one is parents don't let the children interact with children as often (no playground time), and oftentimes the children spend more time with adults (workers, doctors, other care takers). Siblings can help soften that, but not always.

As other commenters have said, things tend to be syndromic. There is an chromosomal problem or specific genetic defect, or insult in the womb such as infection, that leads to a certain syndrome- a collection of symptoms that tend to occur together, such as sight problems and developmental delay or autism. As well as this, a persons neurodevelopment is so inter-wrapped within itself that if one thing is off it will have knock on effect on communication, language and many other features, which may lead to autism.

In terms of other mental illnesses, there's actually never been a case of a person born blind who went on to develop schizophrenia. This suggests the answer to curing or preventing schizophrenia lies in the visual cortex, which is exciting.

Personally, i’m pretty outgoing and independent but I can become a bit fumbling and shy the first time I meet new sighted people because most of my friends are blind.

But I’ve seen some blind kids/young adults be socially awkward because people feel bad about telling them when something is not socially exceptable or their parents coddle them so they weren’t around peers enough to develop social skills.