Her name is Temple Grandin, and to summarize who she is from Wikipedia- "Mary Temple Grandin (born August 29, 1947) is an American professor of animal science at Colorado State University, a best-selling author, an autistic activist, and a consultant to the livestock industry on animal behavior. She also invented the "hug box", a device to calm those on the autism spectrum. The subject of an award-winning, 2010 biographical film, Temple Grandin, she also was listed in the Time 100 list of the one hundred most influential people in the world in the "Heroes" category."

Dr. Grandin was very discomforted in her youth from personal touch, and so she got a lttle older and connected with the ranch animals (cattle in specific) more than humans. She found herself using a cattle calming device to calm herself down, and it was like a hug but not with the social part of it. She grew up and went on to earn her bachelor's degree in psychology 1970, a master's degree in animal science in 1975, and a doctoral degree in animal science in 1989. She has changed slaughterhouses nation-wide in order to promote humane situations for cattle-less stress, panic, and injury, and she described her passion for this in one quote: "Of course they're gonna get slaughtered. You think we'd have cattle if people didn't eat 'em everyday? They'd just be funny-lookin' animals in zoos. But we raise them for us. That means we owe them some respect. Nature is cruel, but we don't have to be. I wouldn't want to have my guts ripped out by a lion, I'd much rather die in a slaughterhouse if it was done right." After her successes in animal rights and science, she started speaking up to correct the stigmas of autism especially early intervention in children. She has continued to stay active in communicating the differences in the minds of those with autism and educating others to assist in further studies, findings, and understanding of autism and what it's like through the eyes of an autistic person.
I encourage anyone who has any interest in Autism to look into her and watch her biopic starring Clare Danes, as she has quite the story to tell.

Ultimately, the weighted blanket is to provide a "hug" to calm a person down, which is the pressure it gives, representing a more "comfortable" version of the cattle contraption that helped Dr. Grandin out, as those with autism read social ques differently than those without. Universal cues are completely different in the eyes of someone with autism.

Hopefully this sparks interest and curiosity for some to further read up on her legacy that she is continuing to build on, as my short synopsis doesn't do any justice to her story, or to show how one person can really make huge changes in the world, one battle at a time.